


Making Our Own Path

by Gamerwitch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU after Deathly Hallows, First Fanfic I've ever written, M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, doctor!harry, not quites sure how tags work, pretty much follows events of Avengers, tags and rating might end up changing as this comes along, title and summary aren't the best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-05 01:11:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4159950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamerwitch/pseuds/Gamerwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tired of fighting, Harry decides to become a doctor so he can help people and save lives. After he decides to see the world, Harry joins Doctors Without Borders and eventually end ups in India. While there, he meets fellow Doctor Bruce Banner and gets pulled in to a relationship and so much more. The two of them end up fighting fate and alien invaders while trying to figure out what they mean to each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfiction I've ever written. It's not beta'd, though if anyone would like to help out with that, it would be greatly appreciated. The timeline has been manipulated a bit to make the stories fit, but not by that much. The first chapter is really just a prologue, so it's rushed a bit to get to the main part of the story. It would be really great if everyone who reads this leaves a comment. Any criticism or compliments or suggested changes.  
> Since this is my first story, I haven't really worked out a schedule for when I'm going to publish chapters, so it might be pretty sporadic.

     The war was over. The battle of Hogwarts had been a month ago, and after today's funeral, all those who had died had been put to rest. For the first time,  it truly felt like the war was really over. Everyone could finally move on with their lives. Most people were happy and immediately set off to begin their lives or restart them from where they left off. Most people were able to just pick up where they left off like the war had never happened. Unfortunately for Harry, he was unable to just move on.

     He was at Grimmauld place, having moved in there a week after the battle. It had taken two weeks to make the place livable, though that was mostly because of Kreacher's help. the house-elf had been dead set against Harry being his master at first, but after seeing Harry work so hard to restore his beloved manor, the elf had quickly come to respect Harry and had pitched in with the cleanup. Their work had paid off, because the place no longer looked like a gothic funeral parlor, but instead was now bright and open, the old furniture replaced and the walls repainted in neutral tones.

    At the moment, Harry was in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames, lost in thought with a letter from Kingsley loosely clutched in his hand. He had offered for Harry and Ron to start auror training without having to finish their schooling or taking the N.E.W.T.s. Ron had immediately jumped at the chance, and would be starting in a few weeks. He and Hermione had moved into a flat in Diagon alley, and were set to be married at some point in the next few years. Ron had proposed practically right after the battle, though they had decided to wait a while to actually get married.

     Everyone had moved on, and they were being impatient waiting for Harry to do so as well. After Mrs. Weasley heard the news about Ron and Hermione,  she had immediately started on Harry about popping the question to Ginny. He had told her and Ginny that he had broken up with Ginny and he had no intention of getting back together. Ginny really wasn’t his type, and he wasn’t ready to just settle down in married life being so young. He had done the impossible and actually survived the war, and now with a hopefully long life ahead of him, he wasn’t willing to just let himself be tied forever to a girl who was just obsessed with being married to the chosen one.  Ginny had thrown a fit and stormed out of the room, but Mrs. Weasley had been more accepting and told him to visit whenever he wanted, though Harry suspected she just said that so she could have more chances to convince him to rethink his decision later on.

     Mrs. Weasley wasn’t the only one trying to control his life. Kingsley and Ron had been badgering him to sign up for the auror program, but Harry had had enough of fighting for his life and killing people. The only reason Harry didn’t turn the offer down right on the spot was that he just had no idea what else to do. Defense had always been his best subject, and he had been fighting against dark wizards since he was eleven. He hadn’t taken the time to think about doing anything else, it had always seemed like that was what he would end up doing.

     “ _Because of course the chosen one should continue to give up his life for us and go on to become an auror and keep fighting dark wizards”_ Harry thought bitterly.

     Everyone had been telling him what he needed to do with his life, and Harry was tired of it. Throwing the latest letter from Kingsley into the fire, he decided to take some time to clear his head and go help out with the rebuilding at Hogwarts. The effort had been nonstop, and it looked like everything would be ready for start of term in September. He apparated to the gates and sent a patronus to the castle. After waiting  a few minutes, Poppy Pomfrey was the one to come to open the gates. Harry gave his first real smile in weeks, and hugged the nurse happily. They started the walk to the castle and Poppy started off the conversation.

   “Oh Harry, what brings you here?”

   “I just needed some time to clear my head”

   “What’s wrong? Anything I could help with?”

Harry smiled at the old nurse. She had always been his favorite staff member at Hogwarts. With all the time he had spent in the infirmary, they had had plenty of conversations, and Harry had quickly grown fond of the old nurse, and she couldn’t help but be a bit more affectionate with her most frequent visitor. So Harry felt she could actually help him, and had no reservations with telling her his troubles.

     “The problem,” he started, “is that I don’t know what to do with my life. Everyone else is telling me what I should do, but I don’t want to listen to them. My life has been controlled by someone else since my parents died, and I want to do what I want for once. I’m not sure what though. All I really know for sure is that I don’t want to be an auror. But unfortunately, that looks like the only job I'm really qualified to do.”

     Poppy got a pensive look on her face, and pursed her lips in thought like she tended to do. “That is a bit of a conundrum. Let me think on it till we get to my office. This really seems like the type of conversation to have over a good cup of tea.”

     They had arrived at the entrance by then, and proceeded to walk through the halls in comfortable silence. Harry was happy that he had finally gotten to reveal his true feelings about the whole mess to someone else who was willing to actually listen to his side of it and help him out. Poppy was always willing to chat with him and had been a great asset to have during his stressful years I school.

     The medi-witch's office hadn’t changed much, and Harry sighed in relief when he sat down in his usual chair and felt much better being in the room’s relaxing atmosphere. Poppy summoned a house elf and had a full tea service brought to them. Nothing was said between them for a few moments as both prepared and drank their first sips of tea, until poppy put down her cup and broke the silence.

   “You do have an interesting problem Harry, I must agree. It’s obvious to me that you don’t want to be an auror. Frankly, I can’t blame you. If I had been fighting in a war I hadn’t chosen to participate in since I was eleven, I would probably be sick of fighting too.”

   “Thank you for understanding. You seem to be the only person who does.”

   “It’s no problem Harry. You’ve been forced onto a path that you no longer wish to follow. Now all we have to do is figure out what new path you should take. Any ideas at all? Any careers you think might interest you or particular subjects or hobbies or teachers you liked?”

     Harry started running his fingers through his hair like he did whenever he was stressed and sighed in resignation before answering, “I really can’t think of any careers. I spent too much time thinking I was going to be an auror, I never stopped to think about other options. I always just thought I’d do it because my best subject was defense and I do have that saving people thing of mine. As for hobbies, the only thing I’m good at is quidditch, but I don’t want to join a professional team because I’m tired of being in the spotlight and being famous. And you were always my favorite teacher at the school, even if you weren’t actually a teacher.”

     Poppy hummed and sat quiet for a bit before smiling and looking back at Harry.

   “I think I know just what you should do. You should become a medi-wizard. You said it yourself, you have a desire to help people, and you can do that by becoming a healer.”

   “But I haven’t taken my N.E.W.T.s and I was bollocks at potions which I know is a big part of healing, so I don’t think the healers program at St. Mungos will take me.”

   “Ah, but I have a solution to all of that. You’re going to sign up for the program and study all the basics while apprenticing under me. I’ll teach you all the healing spells and potions I can while you are studying to take your N.E.W.T.s. You’ll ace all of them, including potions which I think you could actually be great at if you just put some effort in. Then you can officially enter the program and finish a few years early since you’ve already gotten the basics out of the way and have also completed an internship with a registered medi-witch or wizard. You are incredibly powerful, probably the most powerful wizard of your generation, and you have always wanted to help people. Being a medi wizard would be perfect for you.”

     Harry thought about it in silence for quite some time, but the longer he sat there, the more he realized she was right. He would get to help people by saving lives instead of taking them like he would have to as an auror. That left only one thing to address.

   “That plan sounds absolutely perfect Poppy. The only other thing is that I don’t really want to just stay in the wizarding world. I’m tired of constantly being hero worshipped wherever I go. I was hoping to find a career I could also do in the muggle world so I can escape the wizarding world even if only for a small amount of time.”

     Poppy just kept smiling and said “Then all you have to do is also get your muggle doctor requirements. St. Mungos offers a sort of sister program that works with the King’s College medical school that allows magical healers to study muggle medicine so they can get their medical license for the muggle world as well.”

     It actually sounded like this could all work out, and Harry was happier than he’d been in months. " _Maybe my life won't turn out that bad after all,"_ Harry commented to himself _._

   “Poppy, I think I’d like to become a medi-wizard.”

   “Then let’s get started.”

 

/////-----/////-----/////

     Harry’s training to become a medi-wizard actually went pretty quickly after that. St. Mungos was more than willing to provide Harry with the materials for him to study and McGonagall easily agreed to allow Harry to stay in the castle and intern under Poppy. She gave him a guest suite near the infirmary that had its own office for him to study in and introduced him to the other faculty. Most of the original teachers were still at the school, but some positions like potion master and defense teacher had been taken over by new teachers. He had been surprised to learn he wasn't the only apprentice at the school. Neville was actually studying under Professor Sprout to get his mastery in herbology and take over for her when she retired. Harry helped with all the final rebuilding and setting up the school while getting lessons from Poppy on all the most common and important healing spells to know if working in a school infirmary. He studied potions and even got remedial lessons from the new potions professor.

     The castle was finished completely with only two weeks to spare and Harry had come far along enough in his studying to help make the necessary healing potions for the school. September came and the students arrived. Those that had been in school with Harry were surprised but happy to see him and even happier to learn about his position in the school. Others though weren't as ecstatic to hear about his career choice.

     Ron showed up the three days after school started and they got into a shouting match, with Ron accusing Harry of being a coward for not going into the auror program and for abandoning his friends. Harry had calmed a lot while learning under Poppy and no longer had his legendary temper, but he couldn't handle Ron's accusations. He told him that this was what he had chosen to do and that was final, and promptly kicked Ron out of his office. The next day the letters came. Hermione's berated him for yelling at Ron and for not telling them about his plans even though they're his best friends. Ginny's and Molly's were pretty much the same talking about how he should have thought this decision through more and how he should also reconsider dating Ginny. Surprisingly, the most accepting of all of them was Kingsley, he only told Harry the he could respect his decision, though he hoped that he would still consider becoming an auror later on.

     Kingsley was the only one he responded to, since he was the only one to show any type of encouragement in his letter. He couldn't deal with Hermione's nagging, and as for the Weasley women, he just didn't want to enable their delusion that he would end up marrying Ginny, which was never going to happen. There had never been time during the war to just relax and think about things like relationships and sex. But these last couple of months had been revealing for Harry.

     Oliver Wood had come to help with the rebuilding not long after Harry moved into the castle and the two had decided to go and get some drinks together for old times' sake. The night had gone well and they had decided to meet up again. Their relationship had evolved into a romantic one and after comparing his feelings for Oliver with those from his past relationships with Ginny and Cho, he decided that he really wasn't that attracted to women and preferred men much more. The revelation about being gay was scary for him at first since he had grown up with the Dursley's and their homophobic ideas, but Oliver told him that the wizarding world was much more accepting of same sex relationships and that it was even possible for male wizards to get pregnant either through the power of their magic alone or with the help of specific potions. Harry's time with Oliver had helped him grow and learn to accept himself, though their relationship was actually pretty short. They had had an easy, mutual break up after they decided that while they both cared for each other, they were just meant to be friends and not a couple.

     Harry felt torn over the fact that his friends were so angry at him for doing what made him happy, but luckily he had Poppy there to help him, along with Neville and Luna, who had started dating not long after the end of the war. Deciding that if they couldn't be supportive, then they weren't worth worrying over, so Harry ignored them and went back to working and studying.

   And all that work definitely paid off. After only a year of healing every bloody nose and sprained ankle from the moving staircases, and studying both the N.E.W.T. material and the equivalent of the first two years worth of lessons from the healer's program, Harry was able ace all his N.E.W.T.s and advance to the second half of training at St. Mungos. He was sad to have to leave Hogwarts and his true friends again, but he had to complete his work study at St. Mungos and King's College to get certified in both the magical and muggle worlds. It ended up being both awful and wonderful.

     Working at St. Mungos was one of the most stressful, chaotic filled years of his life. People coming in all the time with every sort of magical malady, and then having them start raving about how they were being treated by the chosen one, the vanquisher of Voldemort, frankly it lead to plenty of headaches and many pain relief potions. In comparison, the two years he spent at King's College, and the anonymity that being in the muggle world brought, were absolutely wonderful. No one knew who he was and he wasn't treated special or thought of any differently from anyone else. It was paradise, even if the classes were immensely harder. He had to study constantly, and all the work was more difficult to understand since he had only learnt magical subjects while in school, but he loved every single minute of it.

     After spending two years in the muggle world, Harry loathed to go back to the magical world, where he was constantly swarmed and stalked and where there was also a distinct lack of modern appliances. Really, the decision was probably the easiest he had ever made. So with brand new medical licenses for both worlds, Doctor Harry Potter started working at St. Bart's hospital in muggle London.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     Almost two years he spent working in the emergency room, long days and longer nights. The work was wonderful and fulfilling, getting to save so many lives. He still saw his friends from the wizarding world often. Though really, it would be more accurate to call Poppy, Neville and Luna his family at this point. He still talked to Kingsley every now and then, but everyone else he avoided and refused to see. When the Daily Prophet had broken the news that Harry was working in the muggle world, though thankfully they hadn't mentioned where, he had gotten howlers from everyone, saying that he had abandoned the wizarding world, and how could he do that after everything they had done for him. Mrs. Weasley's had been particularly brutal, going on for twenty minutes and screaming at him for stringing Ginny along all these years and telling him that he should just give up this stupid dream and get a proper job for a wizard and come back and marry Ginny.

   Harry was happy about choosing to live in the muggle world, it had been the best decision, but all of it was starting to get to him. Having most of wizarding Britain calling him a deserter and traitor after he saved all their lives was chipping away at him. At the moment, he was lost in thought, just staring down at his current patients information, when he was interrupted.

     "Hey, there's my favorite boy genius doctor. How have you been Harry?" asked a very bouncy young woman in her late twenties. And he meant bouncy literally. She was actually bouncing on her feet as she talked, making her medical coat and blond curls bounce up and down behind her.

   Harry put the chart he had been looking at down as he turned to his colleague and friend, Doctor Julia Stewart. They had both started at the hospital around the same time, and had become fast friends, even though she was six years older. When she had found out he had gotten his medical degree and was starting at a hospital as a full doctor at only twenty-two, she had decided that he must be a genius, and loved to joke about it. He had spent most of the last two years at the hospital with her, and he could say that she was one of his best friends.

   Smiling he replied, "Everything's been fine really."

   Julia stopped bouncing and stared at him. "Whenever someone says that everything is fine, it really means that everything is not fine. So what's really bugging you."

   "I don't know. I guess I've just been feeling cooped up and just want to get out of the U.K. I've lived here my whole life, and have never been anywhere else. When I was younger I wanted to travel the world, and I still do, it's just that now I have a job, and it's important, and I don't want to stop and take off from work to just go on vacation if it means that people's lives could be in danger."

     She smirked at him like he was missing the obvious and stated in the most obnoxious tone she could manage, "Well if you want to help people so bad why not join the World Health Organization or Doctors Without Borders?"

     The medi-wizard stopped and stared at her. "That is absolutely brilliant. But wouldn't you miss having me around?"

   "I admit, I will miss having you around. It is so hard to find a good gay friend these days," she joked in her best pouty voice.

     They both started cracking up and Harry ended up leaning on Julia to keep from collapsing. After a few minutes they managed to pull themselves together. Harry couldn't believed he hadn't thought of it before. It was really a great solution. He could leave Britain and its prejudices behind and see the world while still helping people.

     "Julia, I absolutely love you," he proclaimed while hugging the life out of her.

     She rolled her eyes at him, but still returned the hug just as enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'm perfect, I know. Just make sure you write, like all the time. And send souvenirs. And if you meet anyone cute you better send me pictures."

     Harry laughed again, and rested his head on her shoulder. He really was going to miss her, but if he was really going through with this, there was three other people he had to tell.

    

     It was late when he got home that night, Julia had dragged him to pub as a going away send off even though he hadn't even resigned from the hospital yet. He was tired, and wanted to go to bed, but he had to tell his family his plans. It was best to get it done as soon as possible, so he walked into the living room and made a floo call to Neville's and Luna's rooms at Hogwarts. It took a few moments before someone showed up, though it was Luna instead of Neville as he expected.

   "Luna, listen could you--" he started asking but she interrupted him.

     "Get Madame Pomfrey and Neville and come over because you have something important to tell us. We'll be over soon." And with one last dreamy, not quite there smile on her face she stepped away from the fireplace.

   Harry ended the call and shook his head. It's best to just never question Luna.

"Kreacher," he called and waited till the elf popped in, "Could you please prepare some tea, we will be having guests over in a few minutes."

   The house-elf did a shallow bow and popped out with a quick "Right away Master Harry."

   Harry moved away from the fireplace and sat down in his favorite chair to await his adopted family's arrival. Kreacher had just finished setting up tea settings for everyone when the flames flared green and the others made their way through.

   Poppy immediately pulled him into a hug and then passed him off to Neville and then finally Luna. They arranged themselves in their usual seats and grabbed their respective cups before Neville cleared his throat and asked, obviously curious, "What it is you wanted to see us about Harry?"

   Not beating around the bush and getting straight to the matter at hand, Harry replied, "I'm leaving England. I've decided that I want to see the world so I'm signing up for Doctors without Borders. I'm not sure where I'll end up, but I'm getting out of this country. I don't want you to think that I'm abandoning you guys, I'll send letters all the time and come back when I can, but I can't stay in a country where most of the magical populace either worships or hates me. I just need to go somewhere and take time to clear my head."

     He was staring into his teacup, too worried about the other's reactions to look at them. One of the chairs creaked, and then Poppy was standing in front of him and pulling him into a hug.

     "Oh Harry dear, it doesn't matter what you do or where you go, we'll still love you. I care about you so much, you know that. You're practically my son after all, and no amount of distance will change that." She had started crying half way through her speech, and by the end Harry was crying too. Neville and Luna got up too and joined the group hug.

     "You're family mate," Neville said.

     Luna smiled wistfully and added on, "And you will always have your family looking out for you, even if you end up infested with nargles."

     Harry smiled, unable to contain his joy at having such a caring adopted family.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     It took a month to get all his affairs ready, resigning from the hospital, making sure Kreacher understood how to take care of the house while he was away and was prepared for everything, and discussing with the goblins to make sure his bank accounts would be handled while he was gone and getting the appropriate papers worked up for him so he would be able to leave the country without too much fuss. He was lucky the goblins were so discreet, because the wizarding papers and public would have had a field day if word got out about him leaving Britain.

     Julia pulled her car up to the drop off zone at the airport, and Harry step out on the curb with his messenger bag and suitcase.

   "Are you sure you brought everything?" Julia asked, "You have like no luggage."

     Harry didn't need a suitcase at all since everything important was actually in his bag which he had charmed with expansion and feather weight charms and every protection spell he could think of. But he had to at least put some of his clothes in a suit-case since it would be suspicious if he only had a bag.

     "Don't worry Julia, I'll be fine."

   She stared at him as if she was trying to figure out what he was lying about, before just smiling and saying goodbye one last time before driving away.

     Turning to face the entrance, Harry thought, " _Well, I guess this is it."_

The plane that day brought him Central Africa, where he stayed for two years, traveling between the different countries in need. He spent some time after that helping with the earthquake relief in Haiti before moving on to provide aid in the Middle East. He had been working with DWB for five years and was now twenty-nine years old when Harry was sent to help with disease outbreaks in India.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Bruce's entrance into the story. Hope I did a good job with his narration. This chapter's shorter than expected, but I decided to split it in half since this half was done and the other is still in progress. This chapter worked out better than I thought, and I hope you guys like it.

     Bruce was on the run. Again. He'd actually been almost happy at the town where he'd been staying. It was a small, rural town, far enough away from any major cities that the residents had been very thankful for the medical aid he had provided. Everything had been going perfectly for once, but of course this uncharacteristically good luck of his couldn't hold out for that long.

     It had been stupid, an awful, stupid mistake. He shouldn't have gotten involved, but he did. A group of men had showed up, waving guns and weapons around, some type of gang that wanted to exploit the lack of any type of security in the village. One of the villagers had tried fighting back, and when one of the gunmen got ready to shoot him, Bruce hadn't thought, he'd just stepped in the way and tried distract the gunman. But unfortunately, this lead to the gunman instead aiming and shooting at him, which lead to the Other Guy deciding to come out and play.

     The only reason there hadn't been a large amount of casualties was from Bruce having just enough control right after it happened to point the Hulk off in a different direction. He was extremely lucky it had worked, for instead of bodies smashed into the ground, it was only trees that had to face the force of his wrath.

     Bruce woke up, what must be hours later considering it was now the middle of the night, in a Hulk sized crater, surrounded by broken trees and shrubbery. He was too exhausted to move at first, this transformation had been particularly brutal since it had started because he was wounded. When he was finally able to stand without collapsing, he began to wonder through whatever jungle he was in, till he found a beaten dirt road that looked human made. He stuck to the tree line on the side of the path, wanting to be able to hide at a moment's notice, and arrived at another village after about half an hour of walking.

     This one was pretty similar as far as he could tell to the one he had just left. It was small and not very advanced, with only dirt roads and buildings that consisted of wooden huts. There was a washing line with clothes hanging on it strung between two huts further into the village. Bruce quickly made his way over to it once he was sure no one was walking around. He grabbed the nearest pair of pants and pulled those on first before reaching to grab a shirt. He was about to put it on when there was the crunch of footsteps on the ground behind him.

     "Do you mind explaining why you are stealing my clothes?"

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     India was probably his favorite place he had been to so far. The colors and food were all bright and vibrant, and the culture was actually pretty interesting. Harry had first arrived at an airport in Mumbai, and had spent a week there while his visa and the papers from DWB were checked out. He took up his time waiting exploring the city, both the magical and muggle parts. Harry had actually been pretty surprised when he'd gotten to Africa and learned that there was all sorts of new types of magic he hadn't heard of, and that other magical communities did know about him, but they didn't treat him any differently. It had become part of his traveling routine to visit the magical areas of wherever he was and explore the different types of magics there were. He had learned about many new spells, plants, and creatures while traveling, and was actually writing down and recording everything he came across, thinking that the knowledge could be useful later on or that he could possibly publish his research as a book.

     What he had also learned was that other magical communities around the world actually communicate and cooperate with each other quite a lot. The reason none of them had come to Britain's aid during the war was because apparently the British magical community thought itself so superior to everyone else, that it was almost completely cut off from the rest of the world. After living with Britain's prejudices all his life, it really didn't surprise him that much.

     It had been a great surprise to learn that Britain's discrimination against creatures like werewolves and the darker magics was practically nonsexist in the rest of the world. If Harry hadn't been happy with his job already, this revelation alone would have been enough to keep him out of Britain for the rest of his life.

     His mini-vacation in Mumbai had been great, but Harry was glad when he was able to get back to work when the week was over. He traveled in a small group which consisted of some other doctors and volunteers and drove for a few hours until they reached the less developed areas. There were a couple of villages in need of aid, so their group split up, and Harry went alone to the most westward one, which was barely big enough to be called an actual village.

     He was given two empty huts to use, so the smaller one was set up as living quarters for him to stay in and the bigger one became a makeshift hospital. Compared to other places, the village wasn't actually hit that hard by the latest outbreak. There were currently less than a dozen people sick, and Harry didn't have much trouble at all treating them with the medical supplies that he had been provided. It would have probably been faster to heal them with magic, but he rarely ever used magic anymore, and only if absolutely necessary. The biggest task he had was educating the locals on proper procedure if anyone else got sick and how to identify if a water or food source was tainted.

     It was actually pretty relaxing working in the village. After all the infected people had been treated , he really could have left to help elsewhere, but he decided to stay on for a little while and help out with other more day-to-day things that needed treatment. Mostly he spent his time in the village treating common problems like cuts people got while working. Though he did set a few broken bones and even helped to deliver a pair of twins.

     He had been in the village for just over two months, and the mugginess of summer was turning into the coolness of autumn. It was actually pretty nice outside, and he had spent all day inside with people coming in and out of the hospital like it was a revolving door, so he decided to drag a chair outside behind his hut and stargaze. He was startled out of the light doze he had fallen into by a sound around the side of his hut.

     Still very paranoid from his time in the war, Harry slipped his wand into his hand before sneaking quietly and spying around the corner of the hut. What he saw a shadowed form in the middle of pulling one of his shirts off his laundry line. It was obviously a man, taller than himself, but he was pretty short so that is not a hard feat to accomplish. He didn't look too broad or muscular, but Harry couldn't really tell anything about him since the other was pretty well disguised by the shadow of the hut he was standing in. Deciding the person didn't look like a threat, he stepped out behind the man and asked, " Do you mind explaining why you are stealing my clothes?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Once again, I'd really appreciated it if you would leave a comment, tell me what you like, what you hate, and anything you think needs work or improvement.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is finally, Bruce and Harry's first real interaction and conversation. This is my first chapter where I'm actively switching between character's points of view, so I hope it doesn't get too confusing. Enjoy the chapter

     "Do you mind explaining why you are stealing my clothes?"

     Bruce froze instantly. He should have done a better job checking for other people. Though the voice he heard couldn't be a villager. None of them would have spoken in English first or have a British accent. If this guy wasn't a native, there was a possibility he knew who he was. Probably the smartest option would be to just run and get out of there, but Bruce was exhausted from the change and he didn't know if the man behind him was armed or not.

     "I'm waiting for an answer," the British voice called out again.

     Harry had been watching the clothes thief, and wasn't surprised when he started showing fear and confusion. Though really, Harry was probably the most confused of the two. He had learned how to see and interpret auras from a shaman while studying some of the ancient tribal magics that are still in practice in Africa. And right now, the mystery thief's aura was showing plenty of fear, confusion, stress, pain, exhaustion, but the real confusing part was his base aura, the part the represents a person, their soul. This guy's reminded him of a werewolf's. Their base aura's tended to be a swirl of two colors, with a smaller color representing the wolf and the bigger color representing the attributes of the person for the rest of the month. This guy's aura though, it was chaos. His emotional layer was completely shot, filled with dozens of conflicting emotions all surrounding a pervasive cloud of rage. It was almost like the other emotions were suppressing and hiding the inherent rage. His base aura was two conflicting colors, a calm violet like that he had seen on many healers, and a green, that for lack of a better word, seemed angry and at war with the violet. As is he was actively fighting whatever was inside him constantly.

     Harry didn't know who this man was, but if his aura was anything to go by, he was someone who needed help and hadn't gotten any in a long time.

     His mind made up, he called out "Look, I can tell your scared, so why don't we start with you turning around and stepping out of the shadows so we talk face to face."

     The other man became conflicted, obviously debating what he should do, but finally he seemed to come to a consensus, and did as he was asked. When Harry was finally able to see him clearly, he was unable to stop his sharp intake of breath in surprise. The man standing in front of him was shirtless, still holding the one he had taken in his hand, and actually quite handsome. While he wasn't a super model, he was still pretty well off, with his soft brown hair and the type of chocolate brown eyes you can melt into. Harry quickly got himself under control, and ignored his looks to instead focus on the fact that the man was hurt. He had abrasions and minor cuts just about everywhere he could see, and appeared to have a gash along his forehead, but his hair was covering where the blood seemed to be coming from so he couldn't be certain.

     Instantly going into doctor mode, Harry walked up to the man and started looking all the injuries over, deciding on what treatments he would need. When he reached a hand up to push the man's hair out of the way, he grabbed Harry's wrist to stop him.

     "What are you doing?" Bruce asked with a tinge of panic showing in his voice. He didn't understand what the shorter male was doing. The guy had just gotten a determined look on his face and started looking him over before he went to touch his face.

     The British man rolled his amazing emerald eyes and replied, "I'm a doctor, and you're obviously injured. I'm trying to see the state of that head wound."

     Bruce stood in shock at hearing this, not used to people jumping instantly to help him, especially after he just kind of robbed them. The supposed doctor seemed to think over something and then nodded his head to himself before twisting his hand around so he was the one holding Bruce's wrist and started dragging him to one of the huts.

     "You need help, so I'm going to help you. This hospital might be pretty makeshift, but it will work for our needs. And no complaining. I'm a doctor, helping people is what I do. I wouldn't have signed up for this otherwise."

     By then, Harry had managed to drag his mystery patient into the hut, despite his protests. He put him on one of the beds near the back, making him sit down.

     "Stay right there. I'm just going to get some antiseptic and some bandages. And maybe some monitoring equipment in case that head wound gave you a concussion."

     Bruce was too tired and shocked not to listen, and did as he was told. Frankly, this random doctor he had met in a village in the middle nowhere was confusing as hell to him. He was in the middle of stealing from the guy, and he decides that instead of yelling for help or attacking him, he's going to patch him up. Who does that? No one is ever that nice, and especially not to him.

     The doctor had returned by then, arms filled with supplies which he placed on the table by the bead and began to organize. While he was busy, Bruce couldn't help but study the strange man in front of him. He was quite short and petite for a grown man, looking to be only around five and a half feet tall. He had a very slim figure, but it appeared to be mostly lean muscle. The most interesting things about him were his shaggy black locks which seemed to be flying everywhere and his eyes, which were an almost otherworldly bright green, covered with a pair of oval glasses.

     Finally done with his task, the other man turned back to Bruce before groaning and smacking himself on the forehead.

     "I'm so stupid. I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Doctor Harry James Potter, and you are?"

     Bruce thought about lying and giving him a false name, but for whatever reason, he felt he could trust this random stranger. So he ended up telling him the truth.

     "Well, I'm Doctor Robert Bruce Banner. But I just go by Bruce."

     The other man, Harry, seemed surprised. "You're a doctor? Are you here with Doctors Without Borders too? I think Friedrich would have called me if another doctor was coming to the village to help."

     "Actually, it's a PhD, not a MD. I'm a physicist, not a medical doctor, though I do have undergrad training in medicine." Bruce had no idea why he was being so honest with him. He could be working for General Ross or some other agency trying to capture him. Why is he being so stupid and just telling him everything? Next thing he'll be talking about is the Hulk at this rate.

     Harry had put on a pair of gloves and was using some wipes to clean the dirt and blood from the worst of the cuts.

"So..." he started to ask, "Mind telling me why a physicist is covered in injuries and stealing clothes from a laundry line?"

     Bruce repressed the desire to tell the truth and instead told him, "I'm on vacation, and was robbed and left in the middle of the jungle. I ended up in this village and decided it might be best to be clothed before I try to find someone to help me."

     Harry stopped, his hands frozen in place. Another great asset that comes from aura reading is that you can tell when most people lie since they're aura's will fluctuate. What made Harry pause though is that while Bruce's aura had the fear that usually comes from lying, this fear appeared to much stronger than usual, as if he was afraid for his life. He brought his head up from where he was working and looked his patient in the eyes before saying with the most calming and honest voice he could manage, "I can tell you're lying Bruce, and I would just like to tell you that I'm here to help. You don't have to be scared of me. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you. But I also can't help you if you lie to me. You don't have to tell me the truth or even part of what's really going on. But I need you to understand that if there's something you don't want to talk about than just say so. Don't lie instead. That will just create more problems."

     Harry went back to work bandaging his cuts, and Bruce sat there, too shocked to move. This man knew he was lying, but instead of trying to force the truth out of him or refusing to help him for lying, he had just told him to be honest when he could and gone straight back to work. Bruce was knocked out of his revelry when Harry went back over to the table and grabbed some more wipes.

     "All right," he said, "Let's take a look at that head wound and hope it wasn't bad enough to have given you a concussion."

     Bruce froze up. It had been that shot to his head that triggered the Hulk. What exactly was he going to find? Had the wound closed up all the way? Was there anything strange about that the doctor might notice?

     Harry cleaned away all the blood, but was shocked when he didn't find the source of it. He pulled Bruce's head down a bit so he could see if the injury was further into his hair line, but he didn't find anything.

     "I guess the blood on your head must have come from some other injury."

     Bruce let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. He couldn't even stand he was so tired. It had been a physically and emotionally draining day. He didn't have the energy to make a break for it if Harry had found anything wrong.

     A cup of water and some pills were held in front of his face. Looking back up at Harry, Bruce saw he had a small, but pleasant smile on his face that he couldn't help reciprocating.

     "You look like an elephant stampeded over you. You really need to rest. But first you have to take these. They're preventatives and antivirals for just about any disease or infection you could have caught while wondering around."

     Since he had given him no reason to distrust him so far, Bruce decided to take the pills and lay back down on the bed to rest. He could ketch up on his sleep for a few hours and sneak away in the morning before anyone else was awake. He would be gone before anyone could question him about who he was and why he was there. Closing his eyes, he was asleep within a few minutes.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     The bright morning light shining through a window woke him up some time later. He really hadn't meant to sleep so late, and had wanted to be out of there before first light. Sitting up, Bruce noticed a set of clothes placed at the foot of the bed.

     "I thought my clothes would be too small for you so I got some spare clothes from some of the villagers for you to wear instead." Harry said out of nowhere, startling Bruce.

     Instantly, Bruce's pulse went up and he had to force himself to calm down to keep from letting the Other Guy out. Harry must have noticed the change in him, since he quickly placed the tray filled with food down on the side table and knelt on the bed next to Bruce.

     "Bruce, what's wrong?" Harry asked concerned. He couldn't see anything physically wrong but it looked like Bruce was having some sort of panic attack.

     Taking deep breaths, Bruce was able to get himself under control and keep from having another incident. He was completely hopeless if something as simple as Harry startling him almost causes him to hulk out. Before his thoughts could spiral out and become even more self-deprecating, Harry spoke again.

     "Do you suffer from panic attacks often?"

     Looking up into the younger man's face and seeing the honest concern there, Bruce decided that he would answer as honestly as he could.

     "They're not really panic attacks, they're actually much worse if I allow them to get out of hand. Luckily I've had them under control, at least I did until recently."

     Harry got a thoughtful look on his face before reaching understanding.

     "Was it because of one of these not-panic attacks that you ended up injured?'

     Running his fingers through his hair, Bruce thought about how to answer. He really didn't know why he was being so open with Harry, though he thought it might have something to do with his speech last night and how willing he was to help Bruce out. It was a bad idea to get him involved, Bruce knew that, but he also knew that Harry did deserve some answers for helping him.

   "It wasn't the ... not-panic attack that lead to all my bumps and scrapes. It just made me ... black out sort of, and when I woke up, I was naked in the middle of the forest. I got scraped up from walking through the jungle in the dark while naked."

     Bruce ducked his head, most likely to hide the deep embarrassment and shame, and the odd self-loathing that Harry saw going through his aura. He could tell that Bruce had told him most of the truth, so he decided to ignore whatever Bruce had left out for the moment and try to focus on the problem that he could possibly help with.

     "Do these attacks always cause you to black out, and do you know what happens when you black out?"

     Turning his face back towards Harry, Bruce just looked at him for a while, before apparently finding whatever he was looking for and answering.

     "They're not really black outs. And if the attack manages to progress far enough then it happens and I can't stop it. As for knowing what's happening while it's occurring, it's sort of like my consciousness is pushed to the back of my mind and I'm not actively participating in what's happening, but when I wake up afterwards, I usually have scattered and fractured memories of what happened. Usually they're just vague notions of what happened and what the Other Guy saw."

     Too late, Bruce realized what he had said. He couldn't take it back now, so all he could do is hope that Harry's reaction wasn't too negative or drastic

   Other Guy? What does he mean by that?Harry's thoughts revolved around the new information for a few moments before coming to a conclusion.

     "By the 'Other Guy', do you mean another personality? Like dissociative identity disorder?"

     Bruce started rubbing the back of his neck and let out a sigh.

   "Not exactly like DID, but another personality is a good way of putting it."

     Harry thought on this for a minute before responding, "So you have these not-exactly panic attacks, that I'm guessing are triggered by certain stressors, which cause your consciousness to be pushed to the side and allow a separate personality, this Other Guy, to emerge and take control. And judging by your description of how you woke up, I'm also going to further stipulate that this Other Guy doesn't make the best decisions or possibly doesn't care for your well being, leading to these awkward situations that cause problems for you."

     He was in shock. How could Harry have produced a theory that accurate with the very vague information he had let slip. It was almost scary how close to the truth he had gotten.

     Harry looked at Bruce's shocked face, and felt a small smirk form.

     "I'm going to guess that my theory was correct or at least pretty close based on your reaction."

     Nodding his head, Bruce asked, "How did you guess that?"

   Harry's look became nostalgic, and he gave Bruce a small, sad smile.

    "I had a friend with a similar condition. Remus had been my honorary godfather and unofficially adopted uncle. He treated me like my family right from the start and was actually my teacher and mentor when I was younger. He was a great man, but he had his own a case of Jekyll and Hyde. His was an ... environmentally triggered case. He became a beast, a wild creature. He thought he was a monster, even though no one who cared about him did. We all told him that it didn't mattered what happened to him once a month, he was still a person and deserved to be treated as such. I don't think he ever actually believed any of us until Tonks smacked some sense into him and then asked him out on a date."

     Harry chuckled softly to himself, and then a beautiful, serene smile slipped onto his face, and Bruce couldn't resist returning his own smaller smile.

     "He sounds like he was a wonderful man."

     Harry's smile widened and he looked Bruce in the eye before saying, "He was one of the best men there was, even with his condition. So whatever problem you have, you shouldn't look down on yourself or think that you are lesser than anyone else. I can tell that you are a good man Bruce, and I know that no matter how bad this issue of yours is, we can make it better, or at least help you live with it more peacefully. After I started travelling, I actually met others with the same condition as Remus who had come to accept the wilder part of themselves and it had made their lives so much better and easier to live. Whatever this problem of yours is, I hope you allow me to help you with it, and that you don't allow it to affect your view of yourself that harshly."

     Bruce wished he could listen to him, but he knew it was too dangerous for him to stay.

He shook his head dejectedly, and tried arguing, "But my problem, the Other Guy, he's dangerous. Incredibly so. He ... he's too big of a threat to just hang out here."

     Harry didn't say anything at first, he just stood up and grabbed the tray of food he had set down earlier and placed it on Bruce's lap.

   "You're probably starving, so eat up and when you're done, change into those clothes and meet me outside. Bruce, I can tell that you would never hurt someone willingly, and that you really are an amazing man. But I can also tell that you have been isolated and dealing with this problem alone for far too long. I want to help you, so please allow me to. Stay here with me, even if only for a little while, and let's try to figure things out together. I don't think you'll regret it if you do."

     Harry walked over to the door and opened it. Pausing halfway through, Harry looked over his shoulder and gave Bruce a sly smile. "Besides, I could use an extra pair of hands. If you stay here, you can help me take care of all my patients." And with that last remark he shut the door behind him and left Bruce to his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hope you guys liked how Harry and Bruce were acting with each other. Leave a comment if you found anything wrong, or if there's issues that need to be addressed, or if there's anything you liked that you want to compliment. Criticism is one of an writer's greatest tools.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this chapter gave me issues, since I got stuck on how to get the ball rolling on some things, like Harry learning about the Hulk. I think it turned out pretty well considering all the problems I had, and I hope you guys like it as well.

       It had been months since their initial meeting. Three months he had spent in this village helping Harry and Bruce still had no idea why he chose to stay. Every morning he tried to tell himself that he needed to leave, that it was too dangerous for him to remain, but Bruce never left. He had made a nice niche for himself, and he was reluctant to abandon it.

       Most of his days were spent in the ramshackle hospital with Harry, helping him treat his patients, which were everyone the entire village. It was actually quite nice and relaxing to be helping people again, though most of the calm he had been feeling lately could be attributed to Harry. Bruce had been wary of the younger man assisting him at first, but he had quickly shown him that he was much more capable than he had first appeared. Their evenings were spent together in the hut that they now shared, practicing the meditative techniques that Harry was instructing him in. Bruce had tried meditation before, with some limited results, but these new concepts that he learned from Harry were actually making a difference. Bruce had no idea where Harry had learned about them, but they were helping a lot, so he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and not interrogate Harry about it.

     Even with everything going so well, Bruce still felt guilty for not telling Harry about the Hulk. He had been more than kind to help him when they first met, but to keep doing so after all these months truly astounded Bruce. Harry was completely amazing, he was kind and smart, but also very witty when he wanted to be. He was volunteering in an impoverished, third-world village providing medical aid when he was more than capable of enjoying a more cushy job in some prestigious hospital back in Britain. Bruce couldn't understand why this wonderful, young, and handsome doctor was being so incredibly kind to him. He knew that he wasn't the only one with secrets and a painful past, since Harry avoided many questions about his past, and too many of the people he would talk about were referred to in the past tense. But Bruce couldn't seem to hold it against him. It wasn't that he was keeping secrets as well, but the fact that in the short time they had known each other, Harry had gotten under his skin. The other man had managed to slip through Bruce's defenses and become the first person that Bruce had allowed himself to honestly care about since the accident. He was completely amazing, and Bruce was growing worried about whether he would actually be able to leave when the time finally came.

     Today was like any other day, with Bruce watching over the patients in the clinic. He sighed and started massaging the back of his neck, a bit tired and strung out from the influx of infected patients. The change in weather that came with the start of winter always lead to more people becoming ill. They were just lucky that no one had come in with anything too serious yet. The door squealed open, and Bruce turned around to see Harry coming in with his arms filled with boxes. Bruce couldn't help the smile that slipped onto to his face when he saw the other man. Just having Harry be in the same room as him could instantly relax him.

     "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me carry in the latest delivery of supplies?" Harry asked while moving to set the boxes down in the back.

     Bruce became sheepish and replied "Sorry, I was letting my mind wander a bit and forgot that the shipment was coming in today."

     Having placed everything where he wanted it, Harry turned back to Bruce with a raised eyebrow, "Likely story. You probably just felt like being lazy and were trying to wheedle out of helping me with all the manual labor."

     In truth, Bruce had remained inside until he knew the delivery crew had left. He wanted as few people to know he was there as possible, it was why he had asked Harry not to inform his overseers or fellow doctors in DWB that he had a new assistant.

     "Yeah, you caught me. I'll make it up to you. How about I handle all the injections for the afternoon and you can go rest up."

     The look Harry gave him could only be described as unimpressed. "Don't think you're going to get off that easy. You made me do all the heavy lifting. I had to lug in like fifty boxes all on my own."

     It was Bruce's turn to quirk an eyebrow at the other, and gestured to the pile of boxes in the back. "Exaggerating just a bit there aren't you? I'm pretty sure I only see twenty boxes there."

     Harry was obviously put out by this observation and started to pout. Seeing the adorable look on Harry's face, Bruce started cracking up, laughing so hard he was bent over and leaning on the table to keep from falling over.

     He tried to stay angry at being laughed at, but Harry couldn't help smiling at seeing Bruce relax so much. The other man was always so bundled up, keeping everything close to his chest. It was nice to see him let go for once and have some fun. Harry was staring at Bruce enjoying the beautiful sight that was him laughing. He wasn't afraid to admit to himself that he had developed a crush on the older man; he was afraid to admit it out loud to the other man. Lost in the moment, Harry decided to let go a bit himself and leaned in and gave Bruce a chaste peck on the cheek.

     Bruce instantly stopped laughing and stood back up. He looked like he was in shock, and after almost three minutes of him stoically standing there, Harry got worried. Running his hand through his hair, Harry looked to the floor and stuttered out "I .... I'm sorry. That was totally out of line. I shouldn't have done that. It was stupid to have thought you might be interested."

     Frozen in place as soon as Harry had kissed him, Bruce was panicking. He didn't know what to do. As wonderful as Harry was, it was too dangerous for their relationship to be anything but friends. With the Hulk, and all those chasing after him, he couldn't allow something as reckless as a romantic relationship, even if it was with someone as perfect as Harry.

     So busy worrying about what to do, Bruce didn't notice that his heart had started racing too fast until Harry touched his arm and snapped him out of his panicked thoughts.

     "Bruce, what's wrong? You're hyperventilating and I think your eyes are starting to turn green."

     Oh no. Not here, not with Harry so close by, and not in a village full of innocent people.

     "Harry, I need to go it's too dangerous, I have to leave, have to get out before he comes out, can't stop him now." Bruce tried to pull away and get to the door, but Harry tightened his grip on his arm, and pulled him closer.

     "You're having one of those not-panic attacks of yours. Calm down, you need to just breathe and allow your pulse rate to slow down naturally."

     "No you don't understand, I can't stop it once he gets too close to the surface, I can only make sure he gets somewhere where he can't cause too much damage."

       Looking at Bruce, with his almost completely green eyes, Harry decided this was an emergency that required some help from magic. He pulled out his wand from its hidden holster and summoned his emergency bag, ignoring the shock and confusion from Bruce. He quickly reached in and pulled out a box of calming draughts, and then shoved one in Bruce's face.

     "Drink this. Now. No arguments."

     Seeing that Bruce was too panicked to listen, Harry pulled the cork out, grabbed Bruce's jaw, and poured the potion down his throat. He then pulled Bruce down onto the nearest hospital bed and held his head against his chest and started humming quietly while rubbing a hand up and down his back. It took what seemed forever, but Harry finally felt Bruce's heart start to slow down, and not soon after, Bruce fell asleep, worn out from his episode.

     He laid Bruce down on the bed before casting locking and silencing charms on all the doors and windows. Bruce's condition was obviously worse than he had originally thought, and he was going to have to ask Bruce about it and explain the magic he just did. It was late in the day, so hopefully they shouldn't have anymore interruptions. Harry placed a few more bottles of calming draught close by just in case, and then began casting diagnostic spells on Bruce. The results he got back confused the hell out of him.

     He already knew that Bruce had another personality, one that was similar to the inner wolf aspect of a werewolf, but upon closer examination, Bruce's appeared to be less of a completely separate entity, and more of a specific chunk of Bruce, one that seemed to consist mostly of the more primal and more emotional parts of his psyche. It was as if his Id had been separated from the main psyche and then hit with steroids. Harry wasn't a mind healer, so he could only make guesses about Bruce's mental state based on what he saw in his aura and what he learned from the few mind diagnostic spells he knew.

     What confused him the most were the results he got from the scans of his physical state. He got two sets of results, one was what he expected, a simple summary of the current state of all of the bones, organs, and functions in Bruce's body. That results from the scan were as they should be for a grown male in his early forties. What was weird was that the second set of results that had appeared were ... well not from a human, or at least not any human he had ever examined. He really couldn't tell more than that , since the second set didn't really appear. The spell he had used would magically print out any results on a piece of parchment. The first set was printed clearly, but the second set was faded and underneath the first set, barely legible, as if it were like a ghost set of results. After running everything two more times, and still getting the same results, the only logical conclusion that Harry could come to was that whatever this is, it was caused by science, not magic, and Harry was way out of his league trying to figure it out without help.

     Luckily, Bruce started to wake up then. He groaned and opened his eyes, before closing them again from the bright light. Harry really should have guessed that he'd have a migraine afterwards. He summoned a bottle of headache reliever and gave it to Bruce.

     "Don't make me force this one down your throat as well."

     Bruce stared at the bottle for a while, trying to figure what it was, before giving in and drinking it. Almost instantly, his migraine started to ease up, and he was able to push himself into a seated position.

     He was about to ask what had happened, when Harry raised a stick up and waved it around while muttering something under his breath, and out of nowhere, a tray with food and drinks just appeared, floating in the air. Harry grabbed the crazy floating tray and then set it on Bruce's lap.

     "You should eat. It's always a good idea to have food in your stomach if you take a headache reliever. And you need to drink all that water. You're a bit dehydrated and the water will help settle your stomach since you're probably feeling a little woozy after having a calming draught and headache reliever so close together. Don't worry if you are. Those two tend to create very light nausea if taken together by people who aren't used to potions or magical forms of healing."

     Bruce was confused. Very, very confused. Harry had somehow stopped the Hulk from coming out, and now he was talking about potions and making stuff appear out of thin air by waving a stick. Clearing his throat, Bruce took a sip of water, and then decided to get some answers.

     "Is that stick actually a wand? Did you just do actual magic. And did you give me real potions?"

     Harry thought about his response for all of about thirty seconds. Screw the Statute of secrecy, he had helped saved the bloody wizarding world, he could tell someone about him being a wizard if he bloody well wanted to.

     "Yes, this is a wand. It's eleven inches, holly wood, with a phoenix feather core. Yes, I did just use actual magic. I summoned the tray and some food from the hut. Yes, those were actual potions that I brewed up in an actual caldron, and yes they used weird magical ingredients like eye of newt and other clichés. I'm a wizard. Like pointy hats, robes, flying broomsticks. I even used to have an owl familiar. And before you ask, I didn't really want to keep it a secret from you, it just worked out that way. I don't really use magic that often anymore, and there are laws against telling muggles, non-magical people, about magic. But I'm pretty sure I can trust you, considering you have your own secret."

     Bruce stiffened, but didn't show any other outward signs of his worries.

     "How did you find out?"

     "I don't completely know what's going on. I just have my sort of patch work theory from what I've seen of your aura and the medical scans I did of you while you were sleeping. And before you get creeped out, I look at everyone's aura's, not just yours, and I did the scans because I was worried something might be wrong that I needed to fix," Harry held his left hand up and put his right over his heart, "I swear to you I wasn't being a big creepy stalker. I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

     Bruce let out a small chuckle at Harry's antics, before getting serious again.

     "Harry, I think I should tell you something before I ask any more questions. It's only fair since you told me your secret that I should tell you mine, especially after all you've done for me." Bruce started running his hand through his hair, and let out a tired sigh before beginning.

He told Harry everything. About the explosion, the accident, the Hulk. About becoming obsessed for a cure, then breaking Harlem and deciding he should instead try to make up for his mistakes and spend his time helping people. How he left America, and had been traveling, running ever since. He didn't leave out anything. Harry was the first person he completely trusted in a long time, and once he started telling his story, he couldn't stop. By the end of it, Bruce was emotionally worn out, and too afraid of Harry's reaction to look up from the floor.

     "You're not a monster."

     Bruce looked up at this declaration and saw how serious Harry was. He looked... determined and not afraid, even after everything he had just revealed. Bruce gave a weak, self-deprecating smile, before asking,

     "How can you be sure? You've never seen the Hulk in a rampage."

     Harry only seemed to become more determined, and leaned forward and grabbed the sides of Bruce's face, looking him straight in the eye he said, "I have seen real monsters, both the human kind and the not. I've seen horrors, and war and innocent people dying at the hands of one such monster. If anyone has the right to decided what and who are monsters, it's me. And I say that you are not a monster. So don't you ever think of yourself as one again."

     Harry looked so sincere, so open and honest, and so very serious about what he had said. Bruce couldn't help it when a few tears leaked out of the corner of his eye. Not even realizing what he was doing, Bruce leaned forward and pressed a his lips to Harry's. It was his first real kiss in years, but it was perfect. It remained chaste, just a press of their lips together, but it seemed to convey everything they were feeling. After a few minutes, Bruce pulled back and leant his forehead against Harry's, smiling happily for what seemed like the first time in years.

     "Thank you, for everything. I don't think I have ever met someone has truly magnificent as you. "

     Harry blushed at this statement, before smiling and then pushing Bruce over so he could sit next to him on the bed.

     "So, I guess it's my turn for the whole life story thing. Feel free to interrupt and ask any questions you want."

     The rest of the night was spent with Harry telling Bruce about his life, everything from his childhood, school years, the war, and what came afterwards. Bruce asked a lot a questions, interested in trying to scientifically figure out magic, and talking about maybe studying it someday. Though what he latched on to the most were werewolves and the wolfs bane potion, thinking that there might be a way to use the knowledge to help with the Other Guy. Their discussion went on for hours, before they finally fell asleep, curled up on the hospital bed together.

 

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     Harry woke up first, since the events of yesterday had worn him out less than they had Bruce. He sat for a while, watching Bruce. His face was relaxed and peaceful in his sleep and he looked years younger without the constant weight of the world on his shoulders like when he was awake. Being careful not to wake Bruce, he got out of bed and moved to the table. He cleaned up the mess he had made yesterday, and then gathered together some food for breakfast. By time he was done, Bruce had started waking. He sat up and stretched, before turning to Harry.

     "Yesterday wasn't a dream right? All the crazy things really happened?"

     The wizard just smirked at him, and summoned a jug of water.

     "Come on sleepy head. Time for breakfast. We can eat while you ask any lingering questions and then we can talk about how things go from here."

     They sat down next to each other at the table and turned their chairs so they could talk easier. They ate in silence for awhile, until Bruce was fully awake, and then the second round of questioning started.

     "I've been wondering, about those meditation techniques you taught me. They worked, when many others haven't. Do they have something to do with magic?"

     "Correct. Some of them were techniques I learned from some werewolves on how they became at peace with their inner wolves. Most of them were techniques I learned when achieving my animagus form."

       Bruce arched an eyebrow, "Animagus form? Does everything in the wizarding world have such outrageous names?"

     Harry laughed at the question and how true the answer really was. "It's unfortunate, but most things in the wizarding world have silly or ridiculous names. Most shopping centers or road names are puns, like Diagon Alley. For your first question, an animagus is a wizard who can turn into an animal. It takes a lot of training, focus, and practice to get it right, so not everyone can do it. It's useful to know since you don't need a wand to transform, but there are drawbacks, such as the fact that you can't choose your form, it's based mostly off your personality, and most forms usually have some identifying mark, like a fur pattern in the shape of glasses."

     Bruce seemed quite interested in this knowledge. He couldn't blame him, it was an interesting topic, and Bruce had obvious reasons for being personally interested in human transformation.

     "How long did it take you to master it? And if you don't mind me asking, what is your form?"

     "It took me less than a year. Most people take much longer, but I was pretty dedicated to it since both my father and godfather were animagi. As for my form, that would just be easier to show you."

     Harry pushed his chair back and stood, then moved to the center of the room. One second he was standing there, and the next there was a beautiful royal red and orange bird resting on the floor. It spread its shimmering wings and then flew around the limited space in the hut, before it landed in front of Bruce on the table. He reached up to pet it, but paused.

     "Is it all right?"

     The bird nodded its head and let out a musical trill, which Bruce took as an ok. He ran his hand down the bird's .. Harry's.. head a few times. He sat and enjoyed the moment of peace, before realizing something.

     "That song you're singing, that sounds like what you were humming last night."

     Bird-Harry nodded his head, then moved onto his chair before turning back into a human.

     "My animagus form is a phoenix. It's unheard of for people to have a magical creature as their animagus form, so I keep it a secret, haven't even registered it with the ministry. But back to your question, yeah I was humming the same tune. Phoenixes are magical creatures, and have their own abilities. Their tears have healing properties and they exude a calming aura, and their song can bring hope and peace. When I'm in human form my tears don't have any special abilities, but I still have that same relaxing aura about me, and I can usually calm people down further if a replicate the bird song."

     "That's amazing. You were able to calm me down, even with the Other Guy so close to breaking out. That's .... that's ... I can't even think of a way to describe how relieved it makes me feel to know that there's someone who knows about ... everything and is even able to help when things start going bad."

     Bruce looked so completely relieved and happy, and the negative emotions in his aura were almost completely overshadowed by his joy. Harry couldn't help the wide smile that spread across his face, "Yeah, it certainly comes in handy when dealing with panicked and stressed patients."

     Bruce smiled and pulled Harry into hug. "Thank you. Really, for everything. You are probably the best, the most amazing, brilliant person I have ever met. Thank you."

     Harry enjoyed the contact, and relaxed at the feeling of having Bruce holding him so strongly against his chest. But eventually he had to pull away and address the issue that he knew they needed to talk about.

     "Bruce, I really hate to ruin the happy moment. But there is some stuff to talk about. You've been thinking about leaving for awhile. And before you ask, I read your aura, and no, your aura is not that specific, but I can read the emotions you've been having and it's not that hard to make a leap and guess what's wrong. You're scared to stay here because you think the longer you're here, the more likely you are to hurt someone or for someone to find you."

     "You really are too perceptive. To tell you the truth, every morning I try to make myself leave, but I can't."

     "So staying here is giving you anxiety?"

     Bruce looked thoughtful as he pondered over the question, "I guess you can say that."

     Harry nodded his head, already having guessed the answer. "Then the only solution, is to leave. But not alone. I'm coming with you, wherever you decide to go."

     He was shocked. Again. That seemed to be a common occurrence around Harry.

     "But your patients are here. Helping people is what you want to do," Bruce shook his head dejectedly, "I can't make you leave what makes you happy. And it's dangerous to be around me."

     "Stop it with the self-pity. I've already told you, you're not a monster, and I know you would never hurt me, even when you're the Other Guy. I don't want to leave you. I don't know if you've noticed, but I like you, a lot. And I'm pretty damn sure you like me. So, if you really feel more comfortable moving around more, than that's what we'll do. I'll call up Friedrich and have him send over some other doctors. I'll just tell him I got homesick, which he really won't question considering I haven't been back to Britain in more than three years, and then we can go where ever and help the people where we end up. Frankly, I don't care where we go, as long as I get to stay with you, because this relationship of ours might be pretty new, but I think it's worth at least trying it out."

     Bruce couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was like it was Harry's goal to drive him crazy by confusing and surprising him. "I ... I think that no matter what argument I come up with, you're going to have at least five counters for it." He rubbed his forehead and sat thinking for a while before looking back up at Harry with a small smile. "All right. We can travel together. For now we can stay in India, since there's still a lot of people who could use medical aid and no matter what you say, I know you want to keep helping people." He was interrupted then by Harry throwing himself at him, giving him a giant hug and nearly knocking them both over. "Don't go so crazy quite yet. I have some conditions if we're going to try this ... relationship thing. The Other Guy is still dangerous even with you helping me, so I want to take this as slow as possible. I don't want to hurt you, because you're right, I do like you a lot."

     The smile Harry gave him was beautiful it was so full of joy. "Bruce, I'll take it as slow as you want. But I will warn you now, I tend to turn into an octopus when sharing a bed."

     Bruce chuckled, "I don't think that will be too big of a problem."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guy enjoyed it! I tried to keep to the characters as much as I could. This is the end of all the prologue section that's just Harry and Bruce. Next chapter should hopefully start the Avengers arc


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Avenger's arc has started! I don't want to write in unnecessary scenes, so anything that's the same in the movie I'm not going to rewrite here since that be annoying. So I skipped over Loki's arrival scene and went straight to Bruce and Harry in Calcutta. I'm mostly going to stick to scenes that have either Bruce or Harry in them, but I'm also going to be adding in other character's points of view. I'm also going to try to avoid directly quoting the movie unless it's important or just really funny.

         "Bruce, hand me a fever reducer," Harry said over his shoulder while trying to use a cold press to relieve the fever as much as he could. Normally, he would have a patient sweat out a fever, but this one was getting to the point where if his internal temperature rose any higher, his brain would start cooking in his skull.

     He felt Bruce's hand on his shoulder and then a bottle was pressed into his hand. "Here, I thought it would be best to just go straight to the strongest strength we had." While giving the potion to the sick man, Harry couldn't help but be impressed with how quickly Bruce had learned the art of potions. He was still far from being a master, but he knew enough that he came in handy with dealing with the dozen people in Calcutta who had come down with some hybrid viral disease.

     Harry checked the man's pulse while Bruce made sure his fever was going down. "His temperature is dropping, so if he makes it through tonight, he should be able to pull through just fine."

      Since Harry spoke better Hindu, he told the man's relatives the good news, and they started shaking their hands or hugging them, thanking them for their help. It was while this celebration was going on, a little girl showed up at the stairwell. Bruce saw her first, since Harry was still dealing with most of the relatives. One of the women told her to leave since there was sickness in the house but the girl just shook her head and turned to Bruce. She pulled a wad of crumpled bills from her pocket and started begging, "Please, my father is ill, he has a fever and won't wake up. He needs help."

     Bruce saw the worry on her face and knew he was going to end up helping her. Does he look like that man?" He pointed over to the man lying on the bed.

     She glanced over and then nodded her head.

     "All right, we'll come help him. But put your money away, there's no charge." Bruce was still just a bit surprised at being able to say that. He had survived his years on the run by doing odd jobs or charging for his help, but now, working with Harry, he didn't have to worry constantly about where his next meal was going to come from. Even after almost a year of being with the wizard, he still found himself surprised whenever he turned down money.

     Bruce went back to the bed and gathered up the supplies he'd need and put them in his bag. Harry spotted what he was doing, and untangled himself from the grandmother who was set on hugging the life out of him.

     "Bruce, what's going on?"

     He paused shortly to point over towards the girl and then said, "Her father's sick. She says his symptoms match up with the disease and she's asking for help. You could probably stay here if you wanted to since we now know how to deal with this outbreak, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to handle this on my own. I'll come back when I'm done, or you can track me and come after me."

       Bruce had finished packing everything by then, but was stopped from leaving when Harry put his hand on his shoulder. He had a pensive look on his face while staring at the girl. Turning back to Bruce, he whispered, "I'm going with you. I can't tell if she's lying now, but something's up. I don't know, it's just her aura isn't showing enough fear for a child with a sick father."

     Understanding that Harry's intuition was usually right, but not willing to risk it in case the girl was telling the truth, Bruce agreed with Harry that they should both go. They quickly said good bye to the family, and gave them instructions on what they should do if the man started getting worse again, and then followed the girl out the door.

     She was obviously in a hurry, since she was sprinting through the streets. Harry and Bruce were having to work to keep up with her since she was able to weave through the crowd much faster than they could. About ten minutes later, they had reached a small house that was really more of a shack on the outskirts of town. Harry noticed there were hidden people surrounding the place, and got his wand ready just in case. He wasn't a master at legilimency, but he had enough knowledge that along with the basic bond that he and Bruce shared, he was able to warn Bruce telepathically, " _Trap. Be prepared to apparate out_."

       Bruce tensed up just slightly, and nodded his head that he understood. When they entered the building, neither was surprised when the girl made her way out through a window.

     "Guess we should have of gotten our money up front," Bruce joked, trying to appear calm as a red-headed woman stepped out of the shadows and into the main part of the room. She remained looking neutral and at ease, but Harry could tell that she was surprised and suspicious when she saw him.

     "Dr. Banner, I'm Natasha Romanoff. It's an honor to meet you. I'm sure I'd say the same for your companion but I don't seem to recognize him."

       Harry had to admit, this woman was good at deception. It was only because of his years of training that he was able to even notice the few knives she had well hidden on her person. He could tell this was a dangerous women and not someone you'd want to piss off without even looking at her aura.

     Bruce spoke up then, answering her unspoken question, "This is Harry, a medical doctor I've been assisting with all the sick in the city."

     Not a lie, but definitely not the whole truth. Bruce was playing it safe, and keeping to revealing just the bare minimum until he knew what was going on for sure.

     The red-head, Natasha, was obviously focusing on Bruce since she only spared Harry a small glance before looking back to the older man. "Don't you think it would be best if your associate left to go help people somewhere else? I think you know what this is about and it would be best if unnecessary parties left."

     Bruce's narrowed his eyes at her, and his voice was slightly rougher as he replied, "No, I think Harry is more than capable of handling himself, and since he already knows about everything, I can't think of a reason for him not to stay."

     Harry cut in before she could argue further, "Plus, as Bruce's personal physician, I have knowledge to help him in case he has one of his episodes."

     The only outward sign of her irritation was a slight pursing of her lips, but she seemed to realize that Harry wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon and that it was best to just continue on. She looked Harry over before commenting, "I'm guessing you're the reason Bruce hasn't had an incident in over a year. Not to seem rude, but why take on such a difficult case?"

     Harry nodded his head, "I help people, it's what I do, and Bruce was definitely in need of help when I met him," Harry smirked, "Maybe I'll tell you the story some day, but how about for now you tell us what your story is?"

     She nodded her head and then sat down at one of the chairs at the only table, "I'm here on behalf of SHIELD. We need your help Dr. Banner. There's a problem, one that could lead to the destruction of the earth." She pulled out a phone at slid it across the table towards Bruce. "This is the teseract, it has the potential energy to wipe out the entire planet."

     "And what do you expect me to do?" Bruce asked after looking over the information on the phone.

     "The teseract emits trace amount of Gamma radiation and you're the world's foremost expert, so we were hoping you'd be able to track it."

     Bruce scoffed, "Yeah, that's what you're asking for, but what you really want is the Hulk."

     "No, we don't need the Hulk, we ne-" she was cut off by Bruce slamming his hands onto the table and yelling at her, "You're lying!"

     Harry could tell what he was up to, so he didn't even flinch from his position against the wall. But Natasha obviously didn't as she instantly pulled a gun from under the table and had it pointed at Bruce.

   He started chuckling and held up his hands in a placating gesture, "I'm sorry, that was mean of me, but I wanted to see what you would do. So why don't you put the gun down and we can all just relax." Bruce wasn't just talking to her, but also Harry. He knew the other man would be ready to hex her head off as soon as he saw the gun.

       It took a thirty second staring contest, but she placed the gun on the table and then spoke into a hidden mike, "Stand down. I repeat, stand down."

     Bruce's mouth twitched a little into a smile, "Well, now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, why don't you tell me what exactly I'm needed for."

     She seemed to think over the situation for a brief moment before sitting back down, "The teseract was stolen by a mad man who's most likely going to use it to take over the world. We need to find it immediately. And frankly, you're probably the only one who can do it."

     Bruce turned to Harry, and the two seemed to have a unspoken conversation for a second, before he nodded his head and faced her once again, "I'm in, on one condition."

     Harry moved away from the wall to stand next to Bruce, "I get to come along as well."

     The red-head turned her attention to Harry, "I'm sorry, but this is a classified, dangerous mission. I can't bring random civilians along with us."

     The man tensed up at her refusal, "Either he comes too, or I stay here."

       Harry placed his hand on Bruce's upper arm, and Natasha noted how quickly the physicist calmed down at the other man's touch. The shorter man looked her right in the eye, and said with all seriousness, "Trust me Bruce, you don't need to threaten her. She'll be asking me to come along after she calls her boss and tells him that she has an unexpected guest. I'm guessing your boss has high enough clearance to know about me or to at least look me up, and once he hears that you are talking with Harry James Potter, he'll probably order you to bring me in as well. Oh, since he's most likely going to ask," Harry pushed his bangs up showing an odd scar on his forehead, "Here's the infamous scar. So, if it's not too much of a bother, could you please call your boss up now."

     Natasha moved to the other side of the hut, making sure she was out of hearing range and was turned away enough that they wouldn't be able to read her lips. Her phone rang for all about half a second before Fury answered.

     "Romanoff, is there a problem."

     "Sir, I've got another man who's been working with Dr. Banner who wants to accompany us. He's a British medical doctor, and while neither of them has said anything, I have strong suspicions that they're in some type of relationship, and according to him, has been helping Bruce keep from accidently transforming."

     She could practically hear Fury's frown as he replied, "Well, I don't care if he's the bloody Queen of England or married to Dr. Banner, no unnecessary civilians on my ship, even if he is some type of Hulk security blanket."

     "Sir, he told me to inform you that his name is Harry James Potter and then showed me a scar on his forehead as further proof of his identity."

     She heard a surprised intake of breathe on the other line, and footsteps. Fury was most likely taking the conversation somewhere more private. "Physical description of the man, now."

     "He's shorter than average, about five foot five to five foot six. Slim build, but does appear to be mostly muscle. Pale skin, dark hair, green eyes, wears a heavy duty glasses prescription."

     Fury interrupted her before she could continue on into more detail, "The scar on his forehead, what does it look like?"

     "It's above his right eyebrow, and it looks like a rough lightning bolt. I noticed another odd scar, one along his left hand that says 'I must not tell lies'."

     Fury was quiet for about a minute before finally issuing orders, "Romanoff, Harry Potter was considered as a possible candidate for the Avenger's Initiative, and by your description, you're standing with the man right now. He could be an incredibly useful asset right now, especially with all of Loki's parlor tricks. If he wants to come along too, than get both him and Banner on the plane and here now. Is that understood?"

     "Yes, sir. Romanoff out." She hung up her phone and turned back to the room's other occupants. She knew that they couldn't have heard her, but Harry was already smiling like he knew what she was going to say. She could tell already that this was going to be interesting.

     "Pack your things, both of you. We leave at 0600 tomorrow morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it! This was an odd chapter to write, but also kinda fun. Writing Natasha's POV was different after sticking to Bruce and Harry's, even if her spotlight time was very short and didn't go to deep into her thoughts. As a notice, I'm most likely not going to update for a week or two since I'm not going to have access to the internet for a while. I'll see if I can post any chapters before I leave, but most likely the next won't be for two weeks at the least. Feel free to comment if you have any compliments, criticism, or questions.


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to get this chapter done during the last hour I had access to wifi. I loved writing this chapter just because of how awkward Bruce is once he's on the helacarrier. It's just so adorable how he twitches all nervously while surrounded by all the agents. This is really going to be the last chapter I'm able to post for a couple weeks, so enjoy it, and hope you like it.

     The plane ride to where ever they were going was quite and took less time than it probably would have in a normal passenger plane. Natasha was upfront conversing with the pilot for most of the flight while Bruce and Harry sat next to each other in the back. Harry leant his head on Bruce's shoulder and dozed while Bruce continued to look over the information he'd been provided. Harry had tried talking to him about it for awhile after they first took off, but it all went over his head. Bruce wasn't annoyed by his lack of knowledge about physics, he couldn't blame him since Harry had grown up and gone to school in a world that didn't offer even basic science classes. The closest they got was potions, and even that involved more magic than actual chemistry.

     Harry made a little snort in his sleep, and Bruce smiled down at the smaller man. He wrapped his arm around his shoulders and Harry snuggled into Bruce's chest. The moment was interrupted by Natasha joining them. "So, you two an item?"

     Bruce gave her a hard look, "Would you have an issue if we were?"

     Natasha smirked at him, "Frankly, I don't have an issue with the fact you're both male. I'm wondering about why someone who appears to be so normal ends up in a committed relationship with a runaway super powered scientist. Though, that stunt he pulled back in Calcutta shows that he has more secrets then most normal people do."

     Bruce couldn't help smiling a little and ignored her obvious fishing for information, "Yeah, he's pretty unique. I still can't believe he sticks around, no matter how often I've tried to tell him he deserves someone better. But between the two of us, he's better at winning arguments and he's usually right any way."

"Of course I am. I just happen to be brilliant," Harry said, having woken up when Bruce and Natasha had started talking, "And you, my genius boyfriend, are quite amazing yourself, and don't you forget it." Harry punctuated this last statement by giving Bruce a quick kiss on the lips. Both of them enjoyed keeping their private lives private after Harry's life in the media's spotlight and Bruce's years of staying hidden, so they tended to keep the public displays of affection to a minimum.

     Natasha's lips quirked into a smile at the other two and how cute they were acting. She still wasn't sold on the idea of anyone dating a person as potentially dangerous as doctor Banner, but it was obvious that these two cared about each other, so she'd keep her worries to herself until she was given evidence that this relationship should be ended.

     "Good timing waking up, we'll be landing in a few minutes."

     Natasha moved back to front, checking on the landing preparations most likely, while Harry stood up to stretch and wake up fully and Bruce packed away his glasses and the information he'd been given in his bag.

       "We're in visual range of the Helicarrier if you'd guys like to see," Natasha called over her shoulder.

     Both men moved to stand behind the pilot's chair and see where it is they'd be staying for the foreseeable future. Bruce started getting nervous as soon he saw it was a boat. It was not a good idea for him to be on something like a boat which could sink from one punch to the hull from the Hulk. He felt an arm wrap around his waist and looked down to see Harry smiling encouragingly at him.

     "Don't worry, you'll be fine. If you get stressed out just remember that I'm right here with you."

     Bruce smiled back and nuzzled the top of Harry's head, "Thanks."

     The two of them then returned to their seats in the back so the plane could start it's decent. The landing was easy since the plane was able to hover and slowly lower to the ground, which was something Bruce was very grateful for. The two doctors and Natasha disembarked and then moved to the side so the plane could runway itself to where it was supposed to go. Natasha walked away to go do something, leaving Bruce to stand awkwardly clutching his bag in front of him while Harry looked around with curiosity.

     A blond, very muscular man walked up to them. He held his hand out to Bruce. "Dr. Banner."            

     Bruce grabbed the offered hand and pumped it up and down a few times, "Right, they told me you'd be coming."

     The blonde placed his hand back at his side, "Word is you can find the cube."

     Bruce shifted on his feet nervously, "Is that the only word on me?"

     "It's the only word that matters to me." The man won major points with Harry with that response. He won even more when the man instead of ignoring him turned to him and held out his hand.

     "Sorry, I don't know who you are, but I'm guessing you're the extra guest that Agent Coulson mentioned and the plane ride here. I'm Steve Rogers."

     Harry shook his hand politely, "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Doctor Harry Potter. I was working with Bruce in India and just sort of hitched a ride with him."

     "Are you going to help him track the cube?" Steve asked.

     Harry chuckled lightly and grinned, "No, I'm a medical doctor, so the most I'd be able to help with tracking the cube is by bringing Bruce coffee."

     It was then that Natasha showed up again, "Sorry boys, but you might want to take this conversation outdoors, it's about to get a lot harder to breathe out here."

     They looked around at all the crew men putting on oxygen masks and securing planes down. Steve was the first to ask, "Is this a submarine?"

     She smirked at his question, "Not exactly."

       The three men went over to the edge when they heard a whirring noise and saw giant propellers coming-out of the water. The boat was apparently also able to fly.

     Bruce paled at the realization, "Oh, this is so much worse."

     "Don't worry. Just remember, I'm here for you," Harry reassured him.

     After that, the three of them followed Natasha inside and through all the hallways until they reached the bridge. Harry personally thought that it looked like they were on the Enterprise if it also happened to be in a fish bowl. A dark man wearing an honest-to-God leather trench coat and eye patch walked up to them.

     "Gentlemen, welcome to the Helicarrier, I'm Director Fury. Dr. Banner, we're glad to have you here. Whatever you need to find the cube, just ask."

       "How many spectroscopes do you have access to?" Bruce asked, going into full science mode.

     "How many are there?"

     "Call up every lab you know and tell them to put their spectroscopes on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll start hashing out a rough tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition."

     "Sounds like a plan, Agent Romanoff, why don't you show Doctor Banner to his lab? Dr. Potter, I'd like to have a word with you first and then you could join back up with Bruce, if that's all right."

     Bruce looked nervous that he was going to be separated from Harry, but the wizard smiled and nodded his head in reassurance, so the scientist followed Natasha out of the bridge.

     Harry then turned his attention back to the imposing man in front of him. He looked like he could be the love child of Kingsley and Moody, and Harry had to suppress a laugh at the thought.

     "Thank you for staying a moment Dr. Potter. I wanted to talk to you about a few things, mainly the Avengers initiative. "

     Harry interrupted him before he could go further, "Please, let me stop you there. I don't want to be rude, but I'm not going to become a weapon or an agent or whatever you're going to try to convince me to join. I declined a position as an auror and instead became a healer because I wanted to help people without having to fight others. I'm sure you had a speech all planned out, but you have to understand, I had been fighting in a war I hadn't chosen to join since I was eleven. I am tired of fighting and being a soldier. Being a doctor is great for me and I'm not going to give that up. So, I'll help in the ways I can, but don't expect me to just sign back up for another war."

     Fury was remained quietly stoic for a few moments, before nodded his head in acknowledgement. "I can understand and respect your decision. It's easy to see you're dedicated already to what you're doing, but if you don't mind, I'd still like to ask for your help. You're trained in magic and medicine, so you be a great help when it comes to dealing with the insane god. Natasha briefed you, correct?"

     "Yeah, she gave us the basic background about Thor, New Mexico, and Loki."

     "Good," Fury grabbed a tablet from a nearby console and handed it to Harry, "On there is all the information we have on Loki and videos of his arrival and actions afterward. Loki is a magic user, he attacked and even turned some of my men into his brainwashed servants. If you have any knowledge that could help capture and contain him, or negate his magic and get our men back, then please share it with us, it would be greatly appreciated. For now, you can join Dr. Banner in his lab and look over the information I've given you."

     Harry knew the other man was being polite mostly just to get him to go along with his plan, but he was grateful for the other not trying to force him into anything. "I'll study everything and see what I can do."

     "Thank you Dr. Potter. I'll have Agent Richards escort you to the lab that we've provided for Dr. Banner."

     Fury then turned his back on Harry and walked over to where Steve had been standing in shocked awe for the past ten minutes. Harry turned his attention to the tablet and started flipping through pages as he followed the agent through the corridors.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     Bruce had been shown to his lab and then left alone, which he was grateful for. He didn't enjoy working with most people, Harry being an exception, since they caused him too much stress. He went straight to work, performing the necessary calculations to create the needed algorithm. Immersed in numbers and radiation readings, he didn't notice time passing or Harry's arrival. The younger man couldn't help smiling at his boyfriend and how easily he slipped into his own little science world. He walked up to him, still unnoticed, and went on his tip toes to wrap his arms around Bruce's waist and place a kiss on the back of his neck. Bruce jumped a bit in shock before turning around and pulling Harry against him to give him a more serious kiss.

     They pulled away from each other once the need for air arose but still remained close together. "How was your discussion with Fury?" Bruce asked.

     Harry shrugged before pulling away to grab the tablet he had set aside. "He asked me to look over all this information about Loki. He thinks that since I'm a wizard, I'll be able to provide some type of insight to the issue that could be useful. He also tried to get me to join up with some type of super group, but I shot him down pretty quickly, and he didn't press it. How are you doing?"

     Smiling, Bruce replied, "I'm definitely less stressed now that you're here. As for the science, a good portion of labs have finished setting up their spectrometers and they're hooked up to the systems here. The tracking algorithm is coming along fine, though it would be faster if I had more comprehensive knowledge about the cube."

     Harry gave Bruce a quick peck on the cheek before hoisting himself onto an empty counter and placing the tablet on his crossed legs. "I have faith in you Brucie. I know that if anyone can do all this mad scientist stuff, it's you." With that, they both got back to work. Bruce camped out in front of the computer screens, typing away. Summoning a notebook and some pens from his bag, Harry began dissecting all the magic he saw Loki using and coming up with possible magical solutions to the problems that the mad god had created.

       They worked in comfortable silence for what was probably hours before they were interrupted by Natasha. She came into the lab, dressed for a fight, and began speaking quickly, "Loki's been spotted in Germany, Steve and I are on our way to deal with him. Harry, Fury wanted me to tell you that if have anything figured out yet to help keep Loki contained, then use this communicator to contact him and he'll bring you to the cell we have prepared." And with that last order, she tossed Harry the ear bud device and left.

     Bruce and Harry just stood there for a few moments, before the scientist spoke. "Do you have anything you could do?"

     Harry started combing his fingers through his hair worriedly, "I can't tell that much about him without seeing him use magic in person. I'm just going to have put up all the containment wards I can think of and hope they can hold out against a god."

     "Just do what you can, that's all that matters."

     "Thanks for the encouragement Bruce," Harry said before putting in the ear bud and contacting Fury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know everyone was expecting some big epic show down between Harry and Furry, but I thought considering everything, Fury would be most likely to just be polite and try to work with Harry since he knows Harry is a powerful wizard and in a relationship with Bruce. I mean, would you want to piss of the Hulk's boyfriend? Don't worry, there will be some smack downs later on, but until then, enjoy what's been written so far and leave a comment if you find anything worth noting.


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to find Wifi! I got to update this, even though I didn't think I would be able to until atleast another week. The next chapter probably won't be out for a while and it will probably a bit short, so enjoy this chapter! Some interesting stuff is brought up, and I use this chapter to set up some future things that are really important. Let's see if you guys are able to figure out where I'm going with all this, so pay attention but still have fun reading it.

   Harry had spent more than two hours casting every single containment and protection ward, fire and break proof charm, and locking spell he knew. He was exhausted by the end, and went straight back to the lab to collapse into a heap. Bruce had already cleared off a counter space and turned it into a makeshift bed by placing some of the spare blankets on it and bundling up a jacket as a pillow.

     "Bruce, I love you, you wonderful man." Harry said as placed his hands on the sides of Bruce's face and pulled him down into a kiss. He then took advantage of the bed and laid down for a quick nap.

     Smiling at the antics of his younger partner, Bruce went back to the algorithm. Some hours later, Harry jerked awake, clutching at his ear, and fell off his table-bed. Bruce rushed over to check on him, but was shushed by Harry, who appeared to be listening to the ear bud he had forgotten to take out. Harry appeared grim and worried, which made Bruce nervous. "They've captured Loki. They're bringing him in on to the helicarrier right now."

     Bruce understood now why he looked worried. He grabbed Harry's extended arm and pulled him to his feet. Harry shoved all the blankets and the jacket back into his bag, and not a even a moment afterwards, Loki was being escorted by a group of shield agents down the hallway in front of the lab. The asgardian turned his head and smirked at Bruce, but what scared Bruce was the much too curious look he got when he saw Harry. The mages had a quick microsecond stare down before Loki was out of sight of the lab. Harry made a slight whimper like noise, and Bruce instantly grabbed his hand and pulled him into an embrace. Before he could ask what was wrong, an agent had shown up and asked them to come to the bridge. They followed him in silence, still holding hands. When they reached the bridge, Natasha and Steve were already there, along with a giant blond mountain of muscle, who they recognized as Thor. They grabbed two chairs next to each other, with Harry sitting in his and Bruce leaning on the chair next to him.

     Bruce observed the others, noticing that Steve looked a bit tired and Natasha stood as stoic as a statue. The thunder god was worrying him though. The man was staring at Harry with an odd, contemplative look. He would have said something, but then Fury walked into Loki's cell, and everyone became distracted with watching the exchange being broadcasted on the table's screens.

     It was a standoff between the two, and it almost seemed too cliché with the hero and the villain having a battle of wills while talking. Fury started off by opening a hole in the floor and threatening to drop Loki through it. Their conversation went as Bruce expected, with Loki not giving away anything. Bruce stiffened at the comment about him being nothing but a beast pretending to be a man, and Harry laid his hand on his arm and gave him a small encouraging smile that Bruce tried to return. The two turned back to the conversation to see Fury start to walk out while offering to get Loki a magazine or something, but he was stopped when Loki spoke up. "Actually, there is something. I'm actually quite impressed with the wards that have been put up all around this cage. They are very well done for being created by a midgardian mage. I only caught a quick glimpse of the man while on my way to my cell, and I must say, I'm actually surprised that a human mage could be that strong. I would be interested in meeting him in person if it is possible," Loki said with smirk.

     Fury didn't give away what he was thinking at all, his facial expressions hadn't changed at all while Loki had been speaking. "I don't think that will be possible. Dr. Potter is only a consultant here to help us regain the agents you brainwashed. I'm not really ok with allowing a civilian, even one such as Dr. Potter, talk to a homicidal maniac." And with that last comment, Fury turned on his heel and left the room.

     Harry's grip on Bruce's arm tightened, and the older man couldn't blame him since the idea of Loki being interested in Harry in any way was making him want to let the other guy out and beat the psycho into paste. If Harry wasn't there to help ground him, Bruce probably wouldn't have been able to hold the Hulk back. Thor had turned away from the screen shortly after Loki started talking, but he now faced the two of them. "So you are a mage then? Will your magic be able to combat my brother's?"

       Harry rubbed at the back of his neck, and Bruce put his hand on his shoulder to help comfort him. "I am a magic user, but on earth most prefer to be called wizards, or witches if you're female. And judging by Natasha and Steve's expressions, you guys aren't really surprised by that. May I ask why?"

     Steve answered first, "I worked with wizards during the war, since that Grindenwald guy teamed up with Hydra at one point."

     Natasha shrugged her shoulders, "I read up on your file, or at least the parts I had clearance to read."

Harry nodded his head before turning his attention back to Thor and answering his second question, "I don't know how well the wards holding him will work since I don't have enough experience with his type of magic to make an a true prison for him. Considering the quick glimpse I saw of his aura when he walked by, I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to escape at anytime."

     Thor became more interested at this last statement, "You can see auras? I was not aware this was a gift midgardians could possess."

     "Yeah, it's not very common. But Loki's aura is seriously .... wrong. I can tell that he's seriously powerful magically, but his aura overall, it looks ... well it looks tainted, like he's sick or something."

     Natasha interrupted him abruptly, "I don't care about his aura, I'm more concerned by the fact he's trying to take over the world."

     Steve nodded his head. "She's right. We need to know what he's going to do next. What exactly is Loki's plan for all this?"

     Thor then went on to describe the Chitauri, and Loki's most likely plan. It was definitely one of the weirdest conversations Harry had ever been a part of. It only got weirder after Bruce wondered what Selvig would need the iridium for.

     "It's a stabilizing agent. Allows him to open a portal as big and for as long as he wants to without having to worry about it collapsing in on itself." This was said by a newcomer who had just walked in. Harry didn't really keep up with the news, but even he was able to recognize Tony Stark, billionaire genius and Iron Man. He said something to the agent he had walked in with, and then proceeded to the main part of the bridge, making a big fuss and joking around, obviously a distraction so he could set the device Harry saw him place under a console. He did a really good job of sneaking it actually, and Harry only caught it because of his training from Mad Eye Moody and his motto of "constant vigilance."

 Tony mentioned that Loki would need a power source, and Steve asked if Loki needed anything specific. Bruce and Tony then had a weird science discussion that Harry couldn't even begin to follow.

     Tony threw his hands in the air, "Finally, someone who speaks English!"

     Steve just looked confused, "Is that what just happened?"

     Tony moved over to Bruce and shook his hand, "Dr. Banner, your work in anti-electron collisions in unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into a enormous rage monster."

     Fury finally showed up, "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube."

     "I'd start with that scepter of his, it might be magical but it works an awful lot like a hydra weapon." Steve pointed out.

     "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube and I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his own personal flying monkeys."

     Thor was confused by the analogy, but Harry chuckled when Steve proudly declared he understood it. "Director, if I could look at the staff, it would help me figure out exactly how Loki's control magic works and get me closer to breaking the spell on those affected."

     This caught Tony's attention since he immediately turned to Harry with eyebrows raised in surprise. "And exactly who are you?"

     Harry stood up and held his hand out to Tony, "I'm Doctor Harry Potter, that's M.D. not PhD, before you ask. And I'm a wizard, and yes magic is real. I hitched a ride here with Bruce and now I'm helping by tackling the magic side of Loki's scheme."

     "Magic? Really? You expect me to believe that? Loki isn't using magic, it's just some type of really advanced technology."

     Harry wasn't in the mood to argue, so instead he pulled out his wand and before Tony could make another sarcastic comment, he turned the inventor into a frog. After everyone was finished laughing, he turned him back and was immediately assaulted with questions on how it worked, what his wand was made of, what was he capable of, and so on. Harry was saved by Bruce pushing Tony back so he could have some room to breathe.

     "You are so going to have to explain everything later, but for now, I think it's time for us to play." The three of them then left for the lab, Tony and Bruce talking about physics the whole way.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

 

   Tony was watching the two doctors interact. They'd been in the lab for a few hours now and the capsicle had just left in a huff. He was waiting for J.A.R.V.I.S. to finish hacking while running tests, but mostly he was covertly observing his fellow geniuses. Harry might not be a scientist, but he was definitely smart, and that magic of his was something else. He had started waving his wand around over the staff and muttering stuff, mostly in Latin, and then parchments and weird colored lights had started appearing. He had been reading over everything and then running more scans repeatedly for some time, before taking a break. He had set up some really big scan that would measure the change of energy and magic over time, so all he had to do was wait. He was spending his free time hanging out with Bruce, just talking to him as he worked.

     Tony wasn't stupid or blind, and you would have to be one of the two to not see there was definitely something going on between the two. It wasn't something obvious like them making out or even holding hands. It was just the way they acted with each other. They were always aware of where the other was, and all Bruce had to do was make some vague motion and Harry would grab him some piece of equipment, or Harry would just half shrug his shoulder and Bruce would explain what he was doing in more depth. It was like they just knew what the other was thinking or wanted before they even asked. Tony liked Harry, but he definitely felt more comfortable with Bruce since he was a fellow scientist and not a character from a fairy tale. So he waited before bringing the issue up. He got his chance when Harry said he was going to go grab some food for them since they were both in the middle of working. The second he was out the door, Tony pounced on Bruce.

     "Wow, Bruce, didn't think you had it in you."

       The physicist turned away from his work to give Tony a confused look, "What are you talking about Tony?"

     "The fact that you are so doing the hot British doctor," he replied while suggestively waggling his eyebrows.

     Bruce's face instantly heated up and blushed deep red. "I ... what ... we're not ... I mean ..."

     Tony decided to put the other man out of his awkward misery and stopped his embarrassed rambling. "It's so obvious that you two are a couple. Don't worry, I have no issue with you two being guys. I'm bi myself so that be kind of hypocritical of me to have a problem with it. But seriously, you two are like so in love it's practically raining sappy sweetness in here."

     "Love ... what ... I, umm"

     "Don't even try denying it Bruce. You two look at each other like you're in your own little world. Harry obviously loves you, and by the way you look at him with such true adoration, you feel the same way. I'm happy for you two. Even a year ago I wouldn't have understood, but after everything, I understand how great a real relationship is, even if mine with Pepper ended after we decided to just be friends, and I'm glad that you two have such a great one. Being in a relationship with someone who cares for and understands you is way better than crappy one night stands. Though having a willing sex partner around like all the time is a pretty great advantage too." Tony might be trying for a heart to heart, but he was still Tony Stark, he had to get a dirty joke in there somewhere.

     He had started laughing at his own joke but he stopped when he saw the look on Bruce's face. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was somewhere between great longing and lust and fear and disappointment. It took a couple seconds for him to understand, but then the puzzle pieces snapped together.

     "You guys haven't had sex yet, have you?"

     The awkward avoidance from Bruce was all the answer he needed. "How long have you two been seeing each other?"

     Bruce seemed a little reluctant to talk about his personal life, but he eventually gave in. "We've been together for a bit over a year now."

     Tony knew it was unattractive, but he couldn't help it when his jaw dropped open in shock. "What are you waiting for? I wasn't kidding when I said you two were obviously in love, you two are into the serious stages of a relationship. Harry obviously cares for you, and is definitely attracted to you if all the sly looks he keeps sending your way are anything to go by. So why have you not tapped that hot doctor ass already?"

     "Because I'm scared!" Bruce snapped. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before he continued, calmer but more subdued sounding. "I'm scared of what could happen. You're right, I love Harry, he's the best thing that's ever happened to me and the most amazing person in the world, and I want to protect him more than anything, and that means protecting him from myself. I don't want to hurt him, and I'm afraid of what will happen if the Other Guy comes out. I can't risk it. I've already put Harry's life in danger by just being near him. I've already been incredibly selfish by just giving in and letting him be near me so much, and I can't allow myself to give in further, because the risks are just too great."

     Tony was quiet for some time, and Bruce started to turn back to his work, thinking the discussion was over, but was stopped by Tony finally replying. "You are the biggest idiot I've ever met, and that's saying something considering I've met a lot of stupid people. Forget the danger, because really, I think you've got the Big Guy pretty damn well under control, and I'm pretty damn sure that's mostly because of Harry. I think you're being selfish by ignoring what both of you obviously want because you're scared. Bruce listen to me, because while I'm normally not the best person to get relationship advice from, I know I'm right this time. If you two really do love each other, and you're both attracted to each other, which it's obvious you are, then let what happens, happen. Don't fight against it, seriously, if you both want to have some sexy times, then go for it. You can't let your fear over the slim possibility of Harry getting hurt stop you." He'd given Bruce a lot to think about, so he decided to leave him to think things over while he went back to hacking Fury's files.

     Harry came back a few minutes later carrying a tray with food. Neither Bruce nor Tony talked about what had happened, though it was obvious he knew something had happened. They ate up and then went back to work. Things were relatively quiet for once with not even Tony talking, until it seemed like the lab became a chaos zone when everyone stormed in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Tony has arrived! Harry and him might just be acquaintances at the moment, but they will quickly bond over their shared love of sarcasm and snarkiness. I dropped quite a few bread crumbs about what's going on and what's going to happen, so some of you might already be catching on. I'll try to update soon, but no promises can be guaranteed. Leave a comment if you found an issue or if there was something you liked


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back! It's great finally having free wifi all the time and not having to sleep in crappy hotel beds. So action finally starts happening in this chapter and there's even some scenes from Hulk's POV. And before anyone gets on me for it, I think that Hulk is actually a lot smarter than people give him credit for, so I decided not to really dumb him down that much. Hope you guys enjoy it!

     It was at times like this that Harry almost wished he was still on speaking terms with Hermione. She had always been better at the tedious research, which was all he was doing at the moment. It became obvious after the first extensive round of testing he'd performed on the staff that the thing was way beyond anything he'd ever seen before. The thing wasn't just producing an incredibly strong amount of powerful magic, but it also seemed to be almost ... living. It had its own aura about it, but it was muddled and almost nonexistent, as if the staff was hibernating since it wasn't being used at the moment. Frankly, the thing was creeping him out. He couldn't gain any more information from the thing while it was dormant, so he just set up a monitoring spell to tell him how the energy and aura of the staff changed when the thing finally did wake up, which he unfortunately knew was going to happen. As soon as he was done, he pulled a book on ancient and forgotten magics from his bag and sat on the counter next to where Bruce was working, wanting to get away from the disturbing presence of the staff.

     Harry scooted closer to Bruce and rested his head on his shoulder, giving and receiving comfort. He wasn't sure what had happened after he had left for food, but Bruce had been acting a bit squirrely ever since he got back. Wanting to ask what was wrong, but also knowing it was important for Bruce to finish his work, Harry just decided to keep quiet about it for the moment. Of course the first relative moment of calm and peace in the lab since they'd all arrived was broken by Fury storming in looking like he was going to kill somebody.

     "Stark, would you mind telling me what you're doing?" Fury growled at Tony.

     "Hacking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files," He replied unapologetically.

     They bickered back and forth but Fury was shown to be lying when Steve showed back up and dropped a massive gun on one of the counters. The three then fell into an argument and Bruce and Harry just stood there not really sure if they should get involved. The two were distracted from the other three though when Natasha entered the room shortly followed by Thor.

     "Dr. Banner, would you mind removing yourself from this environment?"

     Bruce scoffed, "I had been pretty well removed in Calcutta."

     Harry noticed that Natasha's mouth tightened just a bit, "Loki plans on releasing the Hulk on the Helicarrier."

     Knowing this would stress his boyfriend out, Harry grabbed Bruce's hand and squeezed it lightly to comfort him. The action helped, but not enough, because it wasn't that long before the whole room practically exploded. Everyone started yelling at each other and looked as if they were getting angry enough to start pulling guns on each other. The situation was getting bad enough that Harry was even becoming affected and becoming bloody pissed off at all of them. When Fury made some comment about having to be prepared for all the powerful people showing up in the world, Harry finally snapped.      

     "Why are we even listening to the guy who dresses up in space pirate fetish wear?"

     The statement shocked everyone, most especially Harry. He didn't even notice when Tony started breaking down from laughing so hard.

     "You my crazy British friend have earned my undying respect and friendship for the rest of your life with that comment."

     Harry didn't comment on Tony's congratulations or even really noticed he made one. While everyone else went back to arguing, Harry was busy thinking. He had lost control of his temper, which never happened anymore. He had mellowed and calmed with age, and after he had achieved his phoenix animagus form, his capability for really getting angry had all but disappeared entirely. Harry didn't just snap and lose control like that. He wouldn't have said something like that unless something else was going on. At that thought, Harry's head snapped around to the staff, finally realizing the monitoring spell he had placed on it was going off like crazy. The staff had woken up.

       Before, while it had been dormant, Harry couldn't get any type of real read of it, but now, it was all too obvious what was going on. The staff was exuding this deep blackish blue aura that looked like the color of a bloated corpse. It practically screamed evil and danger and run for your life right now. The worst part though, was when Harry turned to the others in the room to tell them what was happening, he saw that their auras were turning the same color. Everyone had the same rotten blue color seeping in around the edges, twisting their auras and pulling forth all the worst negative emotions. Looking at all of them, he was reminded of Loki's aura. He had the same taint from the staff, except his had been much worse. While their auras just had the staff's infection in small amounts all the perimeter, Loki's aura had been completely overrun by the parasitic blue. Harry had barely even been able to see any of Loki's actual aura underneath all of the mess. If this small amount of infection was making everyone try to kill each other, what was the overwhelming amount in Loki's aura doing to him?

     Harry was stopped from speculating any further when everyone finally shut up and Bruce's aura started showing nothing but great amounts of depression and regret and the man looked sadder than Harry had ever seen him before.

     "I got low, I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the Other Guy spit it out," Bruce revealed reluctantly. He was too nervous to see Harry's reaction so he avoided looking at the younger man. "So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back here into this freak show. "

     Harry noticed Natasha and Fury going for their guns, so before anyone could do anything else, he stepped between the rest of the room and Bruce and pulled the taller man down into a hug. "You are good Bruce. You're one of the greatest men I have ever known, and I'm very lucky to have ever even gotten the chance to get to know someone as truly brilliant as you." Bruce had been stiff at first, but he had relaxed into the embrace not long after Harry had started talking.

     "I think I'm the lucky one. You really are perfect Harry."

     They were pulled out of their moment when the alarms at Bruce's work station started going off.

     "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all," Bruce tried to joke before he walked over to his computer. Harry grabbed the staff from Bruce, which the other had been surprised to see he had picked up, and nearly gagged at the horrible feeling of holding it for the few seconds it took for him to put it down back on its stand. When he was sure he wasn't about to throw up from touching it, Harry turned back to the rest of the room's occupants.

     "If you guys are ready to listen now, I think there's --" Harry was interrupted by Bruce's hushed "Oh my God" and the alarms and explosion that happened right after. Everyone was thrown about, and while Bruce and Natasha fell through the floor to the deck below, Harry was hurtled through the air and smashed his head against one of the walls. Having fallen behind one of the work stations, no one noticed as Harry fell into unconsciousness.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

 

 

     Bruce was panicking and hurt and trying not to lose it. The Hulk was right at the surface and demanding to be let out, but Bruce was trying his best to keep him in. He couldn't let the Other Guy out if there was even the slimmest chance he could hurt Harry. Oh my God, where was Harry? Bruce started panicking even more, desperately searching for the wizard. He was quickly losing control of Hulk, but he didn't realize it in his crazed search for his lover. The Hulk was finally able to break through when Natasha spoke up and reminded Bruce that it was her who had brought him and Harry there in the first place.

     While the physical change was going on, with muscles and bones growing and flesh expanding and turning green, a mental battle was going on. As strong as Bruce had become with Harry's mental exercises, he still wasn't able to win against the Hulk once the change was finished. Bruce's consciousness was pushed to the side so he became only an observer of the world around him while the Hulk became the one fully in charge of the body.

     The Hulk roared, confused and enraged at being dragged out so forcefully into all the chaos. All he knew was that he was angry. Turning to the left when he heard a scraping sound, he saw a redheaded woman, and he didn't know why but seeing her made him even angrier. He roared again and then charged after her when she started running. She dodged his attempts at grabbing her, making him even madder. Just when he was finally about to grab her, something flew through the air and smashed him in the head. A big blond thing walked up to him and tried talking to him, but he wasn't about to listen. This blond thing had hurt him, so he had to be an enemy.

     Hulk attacked the blond thing and they fought. He was angry the thing was able to hold him off. Hulk was the strongest, no one should be able to beat him! They fought, attacking each other and breaking most of the stuff lying around, until the blond hit him with the metal thing and sent him flying up through the floor. He shook his head and looked around. He was in a new room, somewhere whiter and shinier than where he had been. The blond thing wasn't there, he had to get back to the blond thing so he could finish the fight. He stopped though when he heard a voice.

     "Bruce?"

   Hulk turned around cautiously, ready for another fight. What he saw was a small man, sitting on the floor and rubbing a bloody patch on the back of his head. Hulk didn't understand why, but seeing the blood on the man's head made him angry, though not at the man, but whoever had hurt him.

     The small man looked up then with big green eyes and a smile. "Sorry, I guess I should be saying Hulk. This is my first time meeting you in person. Glad that we could finally be formally introduced."

     Hulk was confused. No one was ever nice to Hulk and no one was ever happy to see him. Everyone was scared of him, even puny Banner was afraid of him. He stared questioningly down at the smaller being and heard a whisper in the back of his mind. _"That's Harry, our friend, our doctor, our wizard, our partner. We can't hurt Harry, he helps us and looks after us. He loves us."_ Hulk recognized the voice as puny Banner. He was surprised. Banner never tried to talk like that, he always just yelled at Hulk to stop smashing stuff and let him take back control. Hulk normally ignored Banner, but looking down at this tiny man, Hulk did not feel angry for once. He felt something else. He didn't know what it was, but it felt nice. The smaller man pushed himself to his feet, swaying a little. When it looked like he was going to fall over, Hulk instantly reached out placed a hand at his side, steadying him. The green eyed man smiled at him again, even bigger than last time, and Hulk felt like he wanted to smile too.

     "Thank you Hulk. It looks like I might have a mild concussion. Don't worry though, I've got something to take care of it in my bag. Would you mind grabbing it? It's right there by your foot."

     Hulk actually smiled a little when he heard the man talk. His voice was just so nice, and it made him want to relax. Hulk was more than happy to help, and carefully picked up the funny looking bag and handed it to the nice man. He stuck his arm in it and searched around for a few seconds before pulling out a small vial of funny looking stuff. When he pulled the cork out, it was just as funny smelling as it looked, but the small man still swallowed it. He shook his head a few seconds later.

     "Much better. Now that that's taken care of, why don't I take care of you? Looks like you got a few scrapes on you. And judging by the marks I'm going to venture a guess that you met the wrong side of Thor's hammer."

     Hulk was so surprised at someone offering to help him, that he didn't even become angry at the mention of the blond thing with his strange metal weapon. Hulk vowed right then that he would always do his best to protect this man, his Harry. Hulk felt happy for the first time he could really remember though it ended soon when Harry looked past him out the remains of the window. Seeing him pale and lose his smile, Hulk turned around to see a plane aiming guns at them. Hulk had been shot before, and knew those things hurt and were dangerous. He turned back to Harry and grabbed him, pulling him to his chest as carefully as he could and then curling himself into a ball around him, turning himself into a shield. Not a second afterwards, the guns started firing and bullets pounded on Hulk's back. He looked down and saw the fear on Harry's face, and his rage came back full force. How dare they try to hurt his Harry? He was going to Smash them!

     As soon as the bullets stopped, Hulk placed Harry back on his feet, then jumped at the plane with a roar. He pulled the thing apart, completely destroying the thing that came so close to hurting his Harry. As he was falling with it towards the ground, he heard the small man yell, "Hulk! Bruce!"

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     Harry groaned in pain as woke up and tried to open his eyes but found the right one had become glued shut with his blood. He did his best to wipe it off, finally managing to get it open after a few minutes and wheezing and cringing at the pain radiating from the back of his head. He found his glasses by accident while trying to move his legs into a less uncomfortable position. He clumsily grabbed them and put them on his face. Looking around, he noticed that the lab was a wreck and everyone else had left, leaving him alone. Of course, right as he thought that, a big green mass came flying up through the floor.

     Watching the thing shift around and grunt, Harry realized that this great green thing was Bruce, or at least the dangerous part he'd always told Harry about.

     Surprised and astonished to have finally seen the Other Guy in person, Harry asked quietly, "Bruce?"

     The thing - no he - he stopped moving and turned to face Harry. Looking up into his now dark green eyes, Harry realized that while this might be Bruce physically, in a way, it wasn't currently him mentally. Remembering how Bruce always said the Hulk didn't like being confused with Bruce, Harry decided to backtrack and refer to him by his preferred name.

     "Sorry, I guess I should be saying Hulk. This is my first time meeting you in person. Glad that we could finally be formally introduced."

     Hulk seemed taken back, most likely because it wasn't often he wasn't treated like a monster. Harry knew that the big guy was just that, very big and very dangerous when he wanted to be, but he also knew that at some level, the Hulk and Bruce were connected, and Bruce would never hurt Harry. A lot of people would probably call him crazy for not trying to run away, but Harry had always had a bit more courage than sense, and he didn't think that he should be trying to get away from the Hulk. Looking up at him was a bit of an annoyance since he was so much taller than him, especially with Harry sprawled out on the floor like he was. He decided to stand up so they could be closer to face to face, but he almost collapsed once he was on his feet. He would have fallen on his face except Hulk placed a hand on his waist and helped steady him. The Hulk's hand was enormous, and if he wanted to, he could easily squeeze the life out of Harry. But Harry wasn't scared having the Hulk so close. The gesture actually made him feel safer, reminding him of all the times Bruce had caught him when he'd tripped or had rested his arm around his waist so he could pull him closer. Harry couldn't resist smiling up at the Hulk.

     "Thank you Hulk. It looks like I might have a mild concussion. Don't worry though, I've got something to take care of it in my bag. Would you mind grabbing it? It's right there by your foot."

     Hulk looked a bit confused at first, most likely since Harry was being so nice, but he quickly became eager to help and grabbed Harry's magically expanded messenger bag from where it had ended up in all the chaos. Rifling through it, Harry quickly pulled out a dose healing potion designed specifically for head wounds and concussions. He laughed to himself when saw the

Hulk wrinkle his nose at the terrible smell and then sighed in relief when all the pain and blurriness eased away.

   "Much better. Now that that's taken care of, why don't I take care of you? Looks like you got a few scrapes on you. And judging by the marks I'm going to venture a guess that you met the wrong side of Thor's hammer."

     Harry was ecstatic to see that Hulk's aura just about completely changed at that. The anger and rage became just about nonexistent and were completely replaced by happiness and joy. Harry was about to pull out some more healing potions, even though he knew the Hulk really didn't need them he felt like he should help any way, when he saw a plane aiming machine guns right at the Hulk. Hulk must have noticed his change in demeanor, since he quickly turned around. Once he saw the plane, Hulk growled and then turned back to Harry. He let out a surprised yelp when Hulk pulled him close and then rapped his much larger form around him. The machine guns started and Harry became terrified, not at the idea that he could be hurt, but at the possibility of Hulk somehow ending up injured. When the bullets stopped, Harry realized that maybe it should be the pilot he should be scared for, because Hulk lost all the positive emotions he had been feeling just a moment ago and became completely engulfed in rage. After he had let go of Harry he screamed in fury and then attacked the plane. Watching him tear the thing apart, Harry felt brief relief that the pilot got out safely before quickly panicking again when he saw that Hulk was plummeting to the ground. Harry yelled out in fear after him, "Hulk! Bruce!" He probably would have tried to gone after him in it weren't for Fury's words that he heard through the earpiece he was still somehow wearing.

     "Agent Coulson is down. I repeat, Agent Coulson is down."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CliffHanger! Sorry for doing it but it was the only good place to end the chapter, other wise this would have been way longer and I wouldn't have been able to finish it for a few more days. Well, Harry discovered something interesting and finally met the Hulk, and I finally got to work in the space pirate line that I came up with weeks ago. While the big plot twisters haven't been fully revealed yet, I've dropped enough clues that most people are probably figuring out where all this going. When I set out to make this story, I really didn't want it to be another story that follows the Avenger's plot exactly and Harry just says a few things, I really wanted to bring my own ideas and change some of the things that I think should have happened. Really, this has been fun to write, and now that have my plotline all laid out, I've even started thinking a bit about the sequel and some one shots of scenes I couldn't fit into to the story itself that I have planned. I really hope you guys have enjoyed reading this, and please leave a comment about what you love, what you hate, and any mistakes that you caught.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter officially puts me past 25,000 words! The cliff hanger is resolved and surprising things are brought to light. Enjoy this chapter, this story is almost to the end, and I'm sad to say there are only a few chapters left to go.

     "Agent Coulson is down. I repeat, Agent Coulson is down."

     Harry hesitated for all of half a second before securing his bag and apparating to where he sensed Fury was. As much as he wanted to go after Bruce, he knew that the Hulk was practically indestructible and would be all right. So instead, he went with his healer's instincts.

     He appeared in the room he recognized as Loki's holding area, but without the cell. He had landed next to Fury but before the man could ask what he was doing there, he turned to the half dead man surrounded by a quickly spreading pool of his blood. Harry pushed the medics who were already there out of the way, seeing that the man was too far gone for normal medicine to work and any help they could provide would be useless.

     "Potter, what are you doing?" Fury demanded.

     Harry was busy using scanning spells to assess the damage, so he only tossed a clipped reply over his shoulder. "Trying to save this man's life. If you would like to help, you could stop bothering me and tell these people to let me work." Harry then ignored Fury and the others in the room in favor of pulling out the necessary potions that he would need to deal with the injuries the scans were reporting.

       He was focused solely on his work, too busy spelling healing potions into Coulson's stomach since the man was too far past the point where he could swallow them to understand whatever it was Fury was saying over the communicators. Once he had all the necessary potions that need to be ingested to work dealt with, Harry quickly began removing any debris or bodily fluids that had ended up where they shouldn't be. When he was absolutely positive that he could heal the man without him ending up with an infection, Harry spelled away all the dried blood around the wound and began pouring a healing potion that he had actually invented himself with a good deal of help from Bruce. It was incredibly effective, being a hybrid combination of essence of dittany and phoenix's tears, able to quickly heal severe wounds without scarring while also purifying them of all magical taints and toxins. It was quite an accomplishment, and he'd been planning on sending in his research to the potion master's and healer's guilds for its final approval.

     Harry held his breath, watching as for a few moments nothing seemed to happen. But slowly but surely, the wound started coming together, flesh and skin knitting seamlessly and growing back perfectly. Letting out a sigh of relief Harry began running another set of diagnostic spells, reassessing the now healing injuries. The man was very weak and incredibly lucky Harry had been able to get to him when he did. Since he was muggle, he didn't have a magical core to help with his healing, so Harry used a complex spell to put him into a coma, one that would shut down everything not completely necessary for about two to three days, allowing his body to focus solely on healing the damage and recovering. The last thing Harry did was put up a dozen different monitoring spells to allow him to know instantly if anything goes wrong.

     Harry quickly spelled away the empty bottles back to his bag and then turned to the medical team that was just standing uselessly off to the side. "This man will be fine, but I put him in a coma to make sure he'll heal properly. I know he practically looks dead, but he's not. Check his brain scans if you don't trust me since his pulse is so low you probably won't be able to pick it up even with a monitor. He'll wake up in about two to three days, though he'll still be very weak. For now, bring him to the med bay and get him hooked up with I.V.'s and whatever you think will be necessary. Considering the tech in this place, you lot probably have a lot of advanced medical equipment I've never even heard of."

     When no one moved at first, probably too shocked at the fact Harry was able to bring a man practically at death back to life, Fury barked at them to get moving and follow Harry's instructions. The man then turned to Harry and held out his hand.

     "Thank you for saving him. Coulson is one of my best men and it would have been a major blow to this organization to have lost him."

     Harry was pretty good at reading people, so it was easy to see what Fury really meant. Shaking the offered hand, Harry replied, "You can just say that you're thankful for me saving your friend's life. I'm not going to think you're any less macho for admitting you were scared for your friend."

     Fury nodded his head, though Harry noticed his mouth also quirked up almost imperceptibly in a very small smile. "Either way, I think S.H.I.E.L.D. officially owes you a favor now for what you've done."

     "I'll put a rain check on that favor considering I have a theory on something that I might need some help dealing with later. For now, I'd like to see any of the brain washed agents that you were able to recapture. I want to see what can be done about getting them back to normal and compare their states to some observations I made earlier about the staff and Loki."

     Fury turned away slightly and put his hand to the communicator in his ear. "Coulson was seen to by Doctor Potter, and it looks like he'll make a full recovery after spending a few days in a coma. For now, I want all reports on any compromised agents that we were able to capture during the attack." There were a few moments of silence as Fury listened to someone on the other side before he addressed Harry.

     "Agent Romanoff was able to subdue Agent Barton. According to her, it looked as if he might of been snapped out of his trance after she struck him in the head."

     Harry quirked an eye brow in confusion at that. "She hit him in the head and it snapped him out of it? I guess it's possible the blow could have reset the brain back to some of its original processes, but I highly doubt that he'll actually be fully clear of whatever magic was controlling him. I want to run a full diagnostic and maybe even use some mind magic of my own to make sure he is one hundred percent clear of any influence."

     "Agreed. I'll have an agent escort you to where they are. I have to return to the bridge and check up on the damage reports and the remaining Avengers onboard. Thank you for all your help so far with this situation." Fury turned to leave but was stopped by Harry.

     "Oh, Director, one last thing. You ever try to hurt my boyfriend again, whether he's green or not at the time, I will turn you into a toad and leave you like that." With his threat made, Harry left the holding room, following an agent deeper into the ship.

     Fury would never admit it to anyone, but at that moment he swore to try to never piss of the wizard if he could help it.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     The helicarrier was gigantic, and with so much of it in chaos from the attack, it took almost twenty minutes to finally reach the room where Romanoff and Barton were. The agent who had escorted him left as soon as the door opened, leaving Harry to enter alone. The room was sparse, the only furniture in it were a chair and a bed, both occupied the rooms occupants. Natasha looked up the moment the door opened, alert and ready to attack if necessary, but Barton didn't even seem to noticed anyone had entered, too busy thrashing around on the bed. Natasha relaxed only slightly at noticing it was him, but Harry was able to tell by her aura that she now was feeling reluctant hope.

     "Can you help him?" She asked curtly, not giving away what she truly felt.

     "I'll try my best. Mind magic is tricky. Healing physical wounds is usually pretty straight forward. Healing the mind when it's been attacked by magic is very complex, and possibly dangerous to both the patient and the healer. Just make sure we're not interrupted and no one tries to pull me out of his mind once we start. Forcefully ending a legilimency connection like that would definitely cause damage to the both of us." Harry waited until he got confirmation that she understood the gravity of the situation before turning to his next patient.

     He went and stood at the side of the bed, merely observing Agent Barton at first. He had the same taint in his aura from the staff that both Loki and the others had shown. Though his was different from both. Those who had been in the lab had merely been temporarily manipulated by the staff, so their auras had gone back to normal as soon as the connection had been broken. Barton was more like Loki, with the blue deeply set into his aura, rooted in his mind. But his was also much less severe than Loki's, with the majority of his aura and mind still clear. Seeing the condition of this man not only further supported Harry's theory that Loki wasn't fully in control, but also made him think that Loki didn't have any control of his actions at all.

     Shaking himself out his thoughts, Harry turned back to the man lying before him. He was obviously under some form of magical control, what with his eyes glowing from the lingering demonic blue.

     "Agent Barton, I'm Doctor Harry Potter. I'm a wizard and a healer. I'm going to use magic to help you, all right? I don't like performing this type of magic without full permission from the patient, but you don't seem to be in a state where you are capable of giving full consent, so I am sorry, but I have to do this. Just please, try to keep as calm and open minded as possible."

     Barton seemed to be at least partially shaken from control, as Natasha had said, for he stopped his thrashing and even gave a curt nod before just laying still and staring at Harry. The wizard took a deep breath before placing his hands on the sides of Barton's head and diving in. His mind was chaotic, very similar to his aura. There were strands of the black-blue magic that Harry associated with the staff laced throughout the different segments of his mind. The first ones were easy to deal with, just resting entangled in the front part of Barton's mindscape, like ivy vines that had grown around trees in a forest. As Harry moved deeper though, he became both concerned and impressed. Barton couldn't have ever had any formal occlumency lessons, but so many years as a spy must have fortified his mind, since he actually had basic shields and a developed mind scape, though the representation wasn't what Harry expected. He was at a farm of all places, the type you would expect to see in some Hallmark family movie. Of course, the tranquility of the farm was shattered by the many snares and lances and the staff's power that littered the ground and building. The way the staff's power was so focused on the house, it was like it was trying to tear it down and pull it into the earth.

     With his target in sight and the simmering pool of anger he'd been building up ever since he'd first laid eyes on that horrific, perverted staff, Harry began uprooting and destroying all traces of the invading magic. Using bombarda and incendio hexes, he cleared all the traces around the outside. When he was sure there was no more remaining, he walked to the front of the house and stepped inside. The infection hadn't had an easy time getting inside, with only a few, smaller strands of the magic laying around. He quickly took care of those, only having to use basic cutting hexes to destroy them. As he moved deeper into the house, he heard the sounds of a struggle, and a voice yelling out curses.

     Following the sounds lead Harry to what appeared to be the kitchen, where Barton stood, slashing at strands of the staff's magic that were trying to reattach themselves to him. Harry was seriously impressed with this man's mental protections now, considering he'd been able to fight off the staff's magic for so long on his own. Not hesitating any longer, Harry joined in and began destroying the remaining infectious magic. With the main portion of the staff's magic destroyed, it was quick work to take care of these last desperate strands. When he was done, he made one last scan of the mindscape, making sure every last trace had been dealt with, before giving a quick nod to Barton's mental projection of himself and pulling out of his mind.

     He stumbled a bit once he was back in the real world because his legs had locked up. He most likely would have ended up on his face if he hadn't had the bed there to catch himself on.

     "Bloody hell, how long did that take?"

     "Just over half an hour," Natasha stood next to him, staring at Barton where he laid sleeping, "Is he fine? When will he wake up?"

     Harry dug around his bag and pulled out a pepper-up potion, downing the thing in one swallow before he answered. "He's completely clear of the staff's influence. Though I'm surprised how strong his mind is. The guy's a natural at occlumency. I'm guessing the only reason he couldn't fully fight off the staff's control on his own was because the thing was just so bloody powerful. It overwhelmed his defenses."

     "What the hell is occlumency?" a tired and cracked voice asked.

       Both Natasha and Harry turned to the bed where Barton had woken up and was trying to sit up, but having problems because of the restraints. Natasha quickly got them all open and then handed him a bottle of water. While he drank, Harry answered his question.

     "Occlumency is the art of guarding one's mind, specifically from things like mental and psychic attacks. It's kind of weird how well developed your mind scape and mental shields were. Normally the only people who actually have working occlumency barriers are people like wizards and other mages who have to deal with the possibility of mental intrusions on a daily basis. Occlumency is all about shelling yourself up and making it where if someone tries to get in your mind, you won't budge an inch and let them actually see anything."

     "So basically I'm really hard headed and stubborn. Already knew that Mr. Magic, though do you mind telling me what exactly you were doing in my head?"

     "I used legilimency, basically the reverse of occlumency, to go into your mind and help you get rid of all the staff's remaining magic."

     "Okay... I'm really starting to hate all this magic crap."

     Harry laughed, "Trust me, while it does have its advantages, most of the time it's just a pain in the ass. Don't even get me started on all the times I've almost been eaten by some giant carnivorous magical monster."

     Natasha gave him a look at that, as if he was just making a joke but still thought he might be serious, "If you two are done playing around, we have a magic wielding psychopathic God on the loose we still need to deal with."

     "Oh, I can't wait to see that bastard again," Barton said with more than enough malice in his voice, "I'm not going to be happy till I put an arrow through that guy's eye."

     "Barton, there's some stuff you should know before you go after Loki," Harry interjected.

     "First off, do you mind just calling me Clint or Hawkeye, calling me Barton makes me think Fury or Hill are going to show up out of nowhere and make me right up mission reports. And secondly, what exactly do I need to know? He's evil, he messed with my mind, I'm going to get some good old fashioned revenge by shooting him."

     Harry sighed and started combing his hand through his hair in frustration. He knew it was going to be hard to convince everyone that Loki is being controlled as well, though Thor would probably latch onto the idea like a life preserver. He had just been hoping that they'd be at least a little bit willing to listen. Deciding to give the two a bit more time to relax and cool down before trying again, Harry sat down at the end of the bed and started thinking about how he should break it to all of them. He'd only been planning what to say for a few minutes when Steve showed up.

     "Stark figured out where Loki is. Can one of you fly a jet?"

     Clint spoke up first, "I can."

     Steve nodded his head, "Then suit up, all of you," Steve then focused on Harry specifically, "I heard you tell Fury that you were done with fighting and didn't want to be part of the Avengers, but we could use your help. All hell is about to break loose and we need every advantage we can get."

     Harry didn't even have to think about, he was a Gryffindor after all, stupid and brave was their specialty. "I've got some old battle robes somewhere in my bag that I could pull out. Though as soon as we're on the plane, we need to call up Stark because there's something I've got to tell all of you."

     "All right. You've all got twenty minutes to get what you need and get to the hangar."

     With that, Steve left, followed shortly by Natasha and Clint, leaving Harry to get ready by himself.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     Harry arrived at the exit at the same time as the others. Clint was the only one who didn't suppress his laughter when he saw what Harry was wearing.

     "Seriously dude, I can't even think of anything to say as funny as that get up."

     Harry rolled his eyes and grimaced, knowing how stupid battle robes really look. "Steve is wearing a flag across his chest and you're making fun of me, really? And for your information, they're battle robes, it's what wizards wear when they know they're about to be in a fight. The pants and vest are both from a basilisk and the boots are dragon hide, which basically makes them fire, knife and bullet proof. The robe itself was made with every protection enchantment possible woven in so the thing deflects most magical attacks. As stupid as the whole thing looks, it's saved my life enough times for me to just put up with it."

     "Basilisks and dragons are real? No way, I call bullshit."

     Steve broke in before they could argue further, "Time to go."

     Following the Captain, they arrived at one of the quinjets and quickly commandeered it. The crew was more than quick enough to leave the thing once they saw the mood Steve and the rest of them were in. Clint and Natasha took the pilot's seats and Harry and Steve sat right behind them. Once they were in the air and safely on their way, Harry finally spoke up.

     "Look, I know what I'm about to say is going to be hard for you guys to believe but you're going to have to trust me. Natasha, could you phone up Stark. I'd like to only explain this once and he needs to hear it too."

     She nodded in agreement and radioed Stark. Steve turned to face Harry before speaking, "Whatever it is you need to say, we'll listen. After saving Coulson's life and helping Clint, you've proven you know what you're doing. Really, the least we could do is hear you out."

     Harry nodded his head in thanks and waited with the others for Stark to answer.

     "Hey kiddies, miss me already?" Stark's voice came over the speaker.

     Harry took a deep breath, knowing at least one person on the ship might punch him for what he was about to say. "Hey Stark, thanks for joining in. I have something really important to say, and I would appreciate it if you would all keep quiet and let me say it. I know what I'm going to say is going to be really, incredibly hard to believe, but you're going to have to trust me, all right? Everyone willing to hear me out and promise not to interrupt no matter how much it upsets you?"

     He waited for everyone to give their confirmations before continuing one. Considering everything that had happened and the people he was talking to, he decided to get straight to the point. "Loki's being controlled. He's got as much say in the matter as Clint did while he was brain washed. In fact, Loki probably has even less of an awareness of what's going on. I mentioned earlier how I can see auras, and Loki's aura is seriously screwed up right now. When we were all arguing in the lab earlier, I noticed that all our auras were being tainted by the staff's magic. With us, it was only heightening our emotions, making us angry, so the power from the staff affecting us and showing up in our auras was very minimal, and went away after the explosion when everyone snapped out of it. With Clint, when he was under the staff's influence, the infection from the staff was rooted in his aura. I saw that almost half of Clint's aura was consumed by the power of the staff, and it went deep, all the way through to his mind. The staff had latched on and wormed it's way through his entire aura, but he still had most of his actual aura showing through. When I saw Loki, he was completely engulfed by it. I could barely see any of Loki actually in his aura. The staff's magic is literally everywhere throughout his aura. Loki isn't being manipulated and having his brain twisted like Clint, he's being absolutely and completely controlled. Loki's not the bad guy, he's someone else's puppet."

     Everyone is quiet, in shock after he dropped that bombshell on them. Unsurprisingly, it was Stark who broke the silence.

     "Well fuck. At least that will make Thor happy, learning his brother isn't actually a murderous psychopath."

     "If Loki's not in charge, than who is?" Steve asked.

     Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Absolutely no idea. All I can tell that he is being controlled, not who's doing it."

     "Fine, so Loki's just another puppet. We still need to figure out what to do about him." Natasha reminded them forcefully.

     "I've got a plan for that," Harry said, "When you hit Clint on the head, it sort of knocked some parts of his brain back to normal, allowing him to fight back against the control, making it easier for me to help him. I think we should try to hit Loki in the head and knock him out. Even is the blow doesn't allow him to regain some control, it will subdue him enough for me to use legilimency and get rid of the mind magic like I did with Clint."

     "So, hitting Loki in the head is our plan?" Clint asked before smiling, "I'm pretty good with that. Even if the guy is being controlled, I will still take some pleasure from getting even that small form of petty revenge."

       Harry didn't bother arguing, "Let's just remember the guy's big, overprotective brother is the God of Thunder, so he might fry our arses if we do too much damage to his baby brother."

     "So no permanent maiming," Stark said, "I can work with that."

Steve took control of the group now that Harry was done explaining, "All right, we need to subdue Loki, stop him from opening the portal. If we can't do that in time, we're going to end up having to fight an army, so Stark, hurry up and get there because I'd rather like to end this before it even gets started."

     "Ay-Ay Captain," Stark said sarcastically before cutting off the transmission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Coulson, and couldn't bear to see him die. The thing with Barton actually was meant to go differently, but when I was writing it, it just kept coming out that way. And most astonishing of all, Loki was being controlled the whole time! Who would have guessed?! Maybe anyone who noticed that at the beginning of the film he looked like he'd been dragged through Hell and tortured, barely able to stand up on his own. Loki might be screwed up, but I've never thought that he actually wanted to take over the world, considering he told Thor at one point he didn't want the throne, he just wanted to be seen as an equal. Next chapter, it's time to fight. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it seemed a bit slower after last chapter's action. You know the drill, please leave a comment on anything you'd like to comment on. Thanks for reading this and sticking with it even though it's only my first attempt at fanfiction!


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I'm not the best at writing fight scenes, so this chapter is kinda short.

     The quinjet was, luckily, incredibly fast, so they were able to make it to New York in only about an hour and arrived not too long after Tony. But of course, they were too late from stopping the portal from opening. It was gigantic, at least half a mile wide, and aliens were pouring out of it. Tony was flying around, zapping all of them when they finally reached Stark Tower. Clint and Nat started firing at them with the ship's guns and Cap and Harry got ready to fight.

     "Guys, I sense Loki's magic. I'm going to go after him. I'm the best suited to counter whatever magic attacks he has." Harry said.

     Cap nodded his head in agreement. "All right. Do what you have to do. Just remember to keep your com in your ear and on so we can stay in contact."

     Harry didn't wait any longer, he just apparated straight out of the plane and onto the balcony of the tower. He walked in through the trashed doors, wand drawn in his right hand, ready to fight. The inside was still mostly in one piece, except for the rubble that used to be a wall where Loki was dusting himself off. Harry's presence didn't go unnoticed for long.

     "So, the midgardian mage has arrived. Do you really believe you will be able to stand against me? I've had thousands of years of training in the use of seidr. You're barely a flickering candle flame compared to my magical ability." Loki taunted.

     Harry ignored what he was saying in favor of observing him. With the staff interfering with Loki's magic, Harry couldn't tell what he was capable of, though he was able to guess that even with the staff giving Loki a magical boost, it was also most likely limiting the breadth of magic Loki could use. Deciding it would be best to just learn as he went, Harry struck first, casting a chain spell of bombarda and petrificus totalus, hoping to either damage or immobilize Loki. The god was quick to dodge, blocking the spells that got too close while sending back his own attacks. Harry cast a protego, reflecting one of the beams back of Loki, catching him off guard and hitting him.

     "First blood to you. I guess you aren't as pathetic as I thought," Loki snarled. The man's eyes started eerily glowing brighter, and his mouth turned up in a smirk. Remembering what happened to Coulson, Harry quickly spun to the side and cast a bombarda maxima, hitting the real Loki who had snuck up behind him straight in the chest, sending him flying through one of the windows. Harry rushed to the now empty window frame, only to see a very pissed off Loki fly away on one of the alien's flying machines.

     "Damn it." He swore. Turning on his communicator, he called the others. "Loki got away. I accidently sent him flying through a window and he hitched a ride of one of those hover scooters."

     For some reason Stark laughed and said something that sounded a lot like "Karma's a bitch."

     Harry ignored him and continued, "I don't think I'm going to be able to do much to him. The staff is acting like magic steroids and making him too strong for me to take him on head to head."

       Steve was the first to respond. "If we're not able to beat Loki magically, we're just going to have to go the more physical route. For now Harry, just get down here and focus ---- Oh sweet Mary. Are you guys seeing the monster that just came out of the portal?"

     Harry rushed out onto the balcony and looked upward. "Bloody hell, what is that thing? I've fought basilisks and dragons before, but that thing makes them both look like kittens." Unfortunately, he wasn't exaggerating. Whatever had just come out of the portal, it was huge and disgusting and looked like some giant flying space hybrid of a whale and a worm. It was more than twice the size of the Hungarian horntail he had faced in fourth year.

     Stark showed up then, firing at the thing, but it didn't look as if any of his attacks were even making a dent in it. Harry was distracted from Stark's battle with the space monster by the sounds of explosions and screams coming from the street below. Looking over the side of the building, Harry saw Chitauri soldiers firing upon innocent civilians. Not even hesitating for a second, Harry apparated to the ground and then began flinging cutting hexes and incendios at any alien he saw. Noticing one going for a group of people, he cast a protego maxima over the civilians, protecting them from the gun fire, before sending an over powered cutting hex and accidentally beheading the alien. Harry spared a moment's thought that if he got out of this alive, he would most likely end up getting bitched out by the ministry for breaking the statute and using magic in front of muggles.

     He then ran to the people he'd just saved and ordered them to run as far away from the portal they could get. Noticing that one man had been hit in the side by some flying glass, and was now bleeding everywhere, Harry used an episkey spell to heal the cut and then had him drink a blood replenisher before sending him off in the safest direction. He was about to run back to where the main fighting was going on, but was stopped by a man grabbing his arm.

     "You just used magic in front of and on muggles, what were you thinking! You've exposed us. I'm going to call the auror's on you."

     Apparently the man was a wizard, and an idiot as well, and Harry was not in the mood nor did he have the time to deal with him. Ripping his arm out of the other's grasp, Harry sneered at him so expertly, Snape would have been proud. "If you haven't noticed, bloody aliens are attacking the city and trying to kill everyone. I think that the least important thing at the moment is the statute of secrecy. So go ahead and call the aurors, but instead of wasting time by sending them after me, have them actually do something useful and either attack the aliens or help civilians. Now if you excuse me, I have to go save the world." Harry didn't wait for the man's response, he just sprinted away back towards the tower.

     Reaching the base f the building, Harry saw Cap, Hawkeye, and Blackwidow huddled together and taking out Chitauri soldiers. Harry placed a protego totalus around the group and then started taking out any Chitauri soldier he saw. Really, it was surprising how well they were all working together considering most of them had met each other yesterday. They were taking out aliens left and right, and when Thor showed up, they started dropping like flies. There was finally a break in all the fighting and everyone took a few seconds to just breathe. In the relative quiet that had developed, an engine sound could be heard. When Harry shifted to look, he couldn't stop the smile that broke over his face at seeing Bruce. The second the man was off the bike, Harry threw himself at Bruce, tackle hugging him to the ground. Bruce was stunned for a few seconds, before realizing what had happened and wrapping his arms tight around Harry's waist and resting his head on top of Harry's.

     _"Please don't ever do something like jump off a flying machine thousands of feet in the air ever again. I was so worried that you might not get back up."_ Harry thought to Bruce over their bond.

     _"Sorry I worried you. I'll do my best in the future not to get into a situation like that again."_

_"It's all right, you're forgiven. And it was kind of nice getting to meet the Hulk. He's surprisingly adorable."_

Bruce squeezed Harry tighter at the half formed memory of the wizard's meeting with Hulk. _"I don't remember entirely what happened, it's all too disjointed, but I remember that he protected you."_

Harry smiled lightly, _"Of course he did. For all the anger he shows, he's still connected to you, so deep down he really is a good guy. He's just not the best at showing it."_

     The couple's happy reunion was interrupted by someone coughing politely. Bruce thought it was most likely Steve since Clint was sniggering at some joke he had made at the couple's expense and Natasha was just politely looking somewhere else.

     "Banner arrived?" Tony asked over the coms.

     "Yeah, he's here, just like you said he'd be." Steve replied.

     "Good. Then tell him to suit up, I'm bringing the party to you guys."

     Bruce and Harry picked themselves up from the ground just in time to watch Tony come flying around the corner followed by one of the flying monsters. Bruce sighed, knowing he was going to have to change. He looked at Harry, about to tell him to get away, but was stopped when the other placed a chaste kiss on his lips. Harry stepped back and held onto his hand for a moment, before dropping it and smirking. "Let the Other Guy have some fun. We can finish our reunion when everything's over and dealt with."

     Bruce smiled back at his partner one last time, before allowing the Hulk to take control. The shift was completed right as the monster came toward him, and the Hulk stopped the thing with one punch, though it was the Tin Man who finished it off by blowing it up. Hulk roared, excited to have been let out willingly for once and not forced out. He was even happier when he saw his Harry there and still in one piece. The Flag Man that Banner kept trying to tell him was a Captain started telling everyone what to do. Hulk was about to get annoyed by the funny man, but when he turned to him and told him to Smash, Hulk decided that Flag Man was all right. Hulk was about to leave but then remembered his Harry. He didn't want the little man to be hurt. Harry just smiled at him. "Don't worry about me big guy. I can take care of myself. You just go have some fun and smash the alien bastards trying to destroy our home."

       Hulk didn't need anymore reassurances, and took off, charging into the fray with a much too excited look on his face. Harry watched him go for a few seconds before facing Cap again. "What are my orders?"

     "Battle field medic and civilian control and protection. With your magic and medical training, you're the most able to make sure as few civilians get injured as possible. I want as few casualties as possible, so focus on getting people where it's safe and if you can, set up more of those magic barriers over places like subway entrances. Take out any foot soldiers you can while you're at it."

     "Got it. Good luck Captain."

     Harry then ran off to do his job. People were going crazy everywhere, so Harry focused on getting people away from the fighting first. Using a sonorous laced with a mild compulsion charm, Harry spread his voice out as far as he could. "Everyone needs to move away from Stark tower. The safest way is by going to the subways and using the lines to move outward from the battle. Please stay calm, stampeding will just take more lives than it saves." Once he was sure that it had worked and people were following what he said, Harry went to the nearest entrance that he saw people using and placed a specialized protego totalus around it that would keep all the aliens out and spread through the rest of the subway system, protecting the rest of the entry points as well.

     Once the biggest part was done with, Harry began fighting more. With most people now off the streets, it was easier to take out the Chitauri. They were big and obviously out of place, making them easy targets for every nasty spell Harry could think of. One unfortunate alien ended up getting hit by a bat boogey hex and what came out of its nose what not pretty at all. Harry spread out his senses with his magic, using it to find people trapped or unconscious. Once he got to them, he moved them to the nearest safe point. He was attacking aliens and healing the injured and apparating people down into the underground. Harry was quickly using up his magic. Even someone as powerful as him couldn't keep up this constant torrent of magic use. His shields were losing power, and one of the alien blasters actually managed to hit him on the leg. If the battle didn't end soon, he was going to end up draining his magical core.

     Natasha's voice came over the com while he was chugging down his eighth pepper up potion. "I can close it. Can anyone read me? I can close the portal."

     Harry cheered, happy to hear the end was in sight. Then Tony mentioned the nuclear war head. Not even magic could stop one of those things, so if it went off, everyone was going to end up dead. Harry made his way back towards the tower on foot, having drained himself too much to apparate safely anymore. He found Cap and Thor and watched with them as Tony went into the portal. They all held their breaths, waiting for him to come back, but after too much time had passed and Tony hadn't come back, Cap ordered Natasha to close the portal. The thing was nearly gone when a red and gold form fell out. Harry let go of the breathe he was holding, relieved, until Thor pointed out he wasn't stopping. While the thunder god prepared to fly and catch him, Harry started casting a spell to slow him down.

     Neither of them ended up having to do anything since the Hulk came out of nowhere and caught Iron Man midair. He landed not far from where they were standing, and Harry rushed over to check on Tony. Thor ripped off the suit's faceplate, and Harry began scanning Tony to figure out what was wrong. The most obvious was that the arc reactor, the thing keeping him alive wasn't on, but Harry only knew magic and medicine, not mechanics, so there wasn't anything he could do to fix it. He was on the verge of panicking in when Hulk roared and Tony jerked back to life.

     "What just happened? Please tell me no one kissed me."

     Harry laughed, more from relief and the stress of the situation than the joke actually being funny. He tried to stand up, but his leg gave out on him, his injury making itself known now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off. Before he could fall back onto the ground, Hulk caught him.

     Harry gave the him a tired smile. "You know, that's the second time you've saved me from falling on my face."

     Hulk smiled, a real true smile, but it lasted only for a second, since as soon as he saw Harry favoring his left leg, his face scrunched up in worry.

      "Harry hurt."

     Harry didn't let the surprise at hearing Hulk speak show, he just tried shrug off the other's worries. "I got hit from one of the blasters. The protections I had up kept me from losing the leg, but it does look as if it might be a tad broken now."

     Harry's attempt at downplaying it obviously didn't work. The Hulk grunted, "Harry hurt. Hulk help his Harry." The guy didn't even give Harry a chance to argue. Hulk just scooped Harry up and held him close like he was some type of Hulk teddy bear. Harry was too tired to try and fight back, so he just relaxed into the other's arms and decided to take a nap in the surprisingly comfy hold the Hulk had him in. Of course, as soon as he had closed his eyes, Thor had to speak up and remind him of the last loose thread.

     "Right, totally forgot about Loki for a second there. Let's go un-brainwash your brother"

     "What do you speak of Mage Potter?"

     Harry felt like he could have slapped himself. "I forgot to tell you that Loki was being controlled this whole time, didn't I?"

     The shocked look on Thor's face and the following silence was answer enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hoped you liked it. I know I kinda glossed over a lot of what happened, but since this chapter basically followed everything that happened in the movie, I didn't feel like I needed to expand upon all the fighting and everything as much.


	11. ChapterTen

     With the Chitauri taken care of, the only thing left to do was fix Loki. Everyone made their way to the top of the tower, except Natasha, who was already there. Thor flew, with an outrageously large smile on his face at the fact that his brother wasn't actually evil, insane or a psychopath. Clint ended up hitching a ride with Tony and Steve just decided to take the elevator with Harry and Hulk. The big guy was still refusing to put Harry down since his leg was injured and he also didn't want to just jump onto the balcony since that might hurt Harry. So one very odd and slightly awkward three minute ride in a service elevator that miraculously still worked with Hulk growling at Steve any time he got too close to Harry and they had finally reached the penthouse.

     The others were standing around Loki where he laid in a crater in the floor. Clint had a bit of a smile while Thor looked like he wanted to lament over the fact his baby brother was injured while being mind controlled.

     "What happened to Loki?" Steve asked.

     Surprisingly, it was Hulk who answered, sounding quite proud of himself, "Hulk smash puny god."

    Harry's eyebrows shot up into his hairline at hearing the Hulk say he basically smacked Loki around like a rag doll. He must have done a number to him since he was still lying unconscious in the ground. "Well, we did say that we needed to hit him on the head somehow. Time to get to work. Hulk you need to put me down now, okay?"

     Hulk just held him tighter and made a grunt noise that had to have meant something along the lines of 'hell no'.

     "Can I ask why Hulk is holding you like an oversized baby in the first place? It's kind of adorable, like watching a big green toddler with a toy." Clint joked.

     Harry sighed, "I hurt my leg and Hulk decided I shouldn't hurt myself further by walking on it and took it upon himself to make sure I wouldn't try walking by carrying me. But Hulk, you really have to put me down now. I promise, I'm not doing anything dangerous or something that can hurt me. I need to help Loki. See the puny god is actually being used as a puppet by someone else. You actually helped him get better by hitting him in the head ... a lot, but now I have to use some magic to fully heal him and make sure that he's no longer being forced to be some evil psychopath by whoever was controlling him." Hulk still didn't look entirely convinced that he should put Harry down. "Look, why don't you sit on the ground near Loki and let me sit near his head, that way I can do what I need to and you can stay right next to me in case anything happens, all right?"

     Hulk thought about for a few moments before finally agreeing. He maneuvered around the others and then dropped unceremoniously to the ground next to Loki. Harry carefully climbed out of Hulk's lap and placed himself next to Loki. Looking at the others, seeing the desperate hope in Thor's face and the varying degrees of confusion and curiosity in the others, Harry really hoped that he would be able to help Loki, because if he couldn't, the god was most likely going to end up shot full arrows, bullets, and whatever other projectiles people had on them. "Okay, I explained this to Natasha earlier when I did this with Clint, but I have to make sure you all understand. I can't be interrupted, in any way, shape or form while I'm in Loki's head. This is basically like magical brain surgery, one distraction and I might accidently lobotomize him. Of course, with this type of magic, one wrong distraction, and we'd both probably end up with some form of mental damage, so no interruptions at all, okay?" Harry made sure everyone, including the Hulk, understood perfectly before beginning. Looking down at Loki, Harry took one last breath before opening the god's eyes and staring down into the twisted glowing blue orbs Loki currently had.

 

     Harry couldn't help the strangled curses that came out of his mouth once he was in Loki's mind and fully saw the damage that had been wrought. Loki had a fully developed occlumency shields and mind scape. Clint's had been just one building, but Loki had a full city. It was definitely alien, with great spires and oddly formed arches, and a castle that appeared to be made out of solid gold. Harry's best guess was that this was what Asgard looked like, though a twisted, dark, and half destroyed version of it. Walkways were torn up, buildings were crumbling or obliterated, plants were withered, and the grand castle was dull and dark. There were vines of the staffs control growing entirely around it, along every single surface, reminiscent in a way of the briars that grew around sleeping beauty's castle, keeping her in and others out. Seeing that was most likely where the main infestation lay, Harry began his trek to the castle.

     While he was walking through the dilapidated remains of the city, Harry couldn't help but think that this was going to take much more effort and time than it had for Clint by far. Clint had been infected by the staff, sure, but his mind had still been left basically in one piece. He hadn't had the damage that Loki's mind was showing. A mind scape wasn't just a person's mental defense, it was also a very good representation of their mental state and health. And Loki's mind scape looked like it had been bombed. As he walked near the castle, Harry noticed a path of stone that seemed to circle around the city. It wasn't until he was nearer the castle where there was a raised chuck still left standing that Harry realized what it really was: Loki's occlumency shields. With his mind scape as a city, it would make sense he'd project his barriers as the city around it. His shields probably hadn't been as simple as that, considering he was known as the God of Mischief, but now there was nothing left of them. Loki had been too strong for just a simple control spell, so the staff and whomever was really in control of it, had decided to just smash their way into his head, overpowering him by destroying whole parts of his mind. Even after Harry finished removing the staff's taint, he was going to have to spend a good amount of time helping Loki fix his mind. This was probably going to take more than one session.

     After his horrifying revelation, Harry moved quicker, reaching the grand doors of the castle after only a few minutes. The doors were sealed shut by the staff's magic, but Harry was not about to let that evil piece of metal and magic beat him. Fueled by the fury he felt on behalf of Loki, Harry easily and quickly tore his way through the vines baring the door. Inside the castle even worse than outside. The black-blue of the staff was everywhere, completely covering everything, making it so he couldn't even see the actual castle underneath it all. He started attacking the staff's magic, but instead of disappearing like it had in Clint's mind or like the vines on the door, the infection just came back, slowly retaking the parts that Harry had just cleared. The power from the staff was much more concentrated and stronger in Loki's mind, probably because he was the most likely to be able to shake the control off. If Harry was going to be able to help him, he would need to find Loki and deal with the infection at its source.

     Surprisingly, a simple point me spell actually worked, and Harry was able to make his way through the castle. It seemed the closer he got, the more the staff fought back. At first it was just the vines growing back faster, but soon they began to grow towards him and try to attach themselves to him. These were dealt with easily by casting a protego charm to deter them. The staff's defenses started getting smarter though. The vines began to focus on blocking his path, clogging up doorways and slowing him down. But Harry just pushed on through. He had promised Thor he'd help his brother and that's what he was going to do. It wasn't in Harry's instincts to just abandon someone who needed his help.

     When the vines actively began attacking him, he knew he was close. He doubled his efforts and began running, sending off bombardas in front of him to clear the path. It seemed like he'd been running forever when he finally reached a set of doors, behind which he could sense a presence other than the staff. The door was completely sealed shut, and didn't budge even after a bombarda maxima. Harry didn't let it deter him, he just began casting every damaging spell and hex he could think of, one after the other, till eventually the vines began to disappear and the gold of the door appeared. When enough of them had been cleared away, Harry cast another, extremely over powered bombarda maxima at the doors, blasting them open and knocking one off its hinges.

     Stepping through the doorway, Harry entered what appeared to be the throne room or great hall. It was the biggest room he'd come across so far and seemed to be the most decorated, but it was hard to tell with the staff's magic covering everything. Harry began to search the room, but didn't see Loki. He cast another point me spell, which lead him to the far end of the room. All he saw was what was probably the throne, but it was covered in a swarm of vines so thick he couldn't say for certain what it was. It was when he inspected it closer that he saw a small flash of white under the vines near the armrest and a spot of green further up. The same shade of green Loki's armor was. With mounting horror, Harry began to peel away the vines by hand until he was able to see what he was hoping wasn't true. There was a person under this huge mess of vines. Loki was completely engulfed and covered by them. Desperation took over, and Harry started removing the vines, but they just grew back faster each time. He couldn't make any progress at this rate.

     He wasn't going to be able to do this alone, he needed help. He focused on the vines nearest the top, clearing them away as fast as he could until most of Loki's head was in view.

     "Loki! You need to wake up! I'm trying to save you but I need your help to do it! Please, Loki! Wake up! Fight the staff's power! You're one of the greatest mages in existence, you're a bloody God for Merlin's sake! Are you really going to let some stupid piece of metal and rock beat you?! Damn it, wake up and fight!"

     The vines started covering him up again, so Harry had to focus on them again. While he had been busy trying to get Loki to respond, some of the vines along the ground had managed to wind themselves up his legs. Harry finally realized they were there when they tried to pull him down and swarm him. He had to leave the vines on Loki alone while he tried to keep himself from being turned into a puppet as well. Bloody hell, he had really gotten himself into a mess this time. Bruce would kill him if he let himself be pulled under the staff's control as well. Harry managed to rip enough of the vines off himself to break away and move away from the throne. He was trying to think up another plan when the magic energy in the room suddenly spiked like crazy.

       Green light began peeking through the vines on the throne, and some of the smaller one began to burn up in a type of green fire. Harry cheered and ran back to the throne to help. With some cutting hexes aimed at the vines and a few incendios, Harry was able to reveal Loki's head and most of his torso. He began swallowing breathes of air like a man saved from drowning before managing to rip one of his arms free. Loki than viciously began attacking the vines still on him with his magic fire while Harry assisted him. Soon the vines were all nearly gone, and Loki placed his hands on the armrests, and levered himself of the throne and away from the remains of the staff's magic. With Loki free and his magic no longer suppressed, most of the staff's magic began dissipating as Loki's power swarmed back through his mind scape. One last additional burst of power from Harry, and the staff was completely evicted from Loki's mind.

     Both magic users just stood there at first, panting and breathing heavily, before Harry began laughing. When Loki gave him a curious look, he shook his head and said, "I'm bloody relieved we're alive. For a second there I thought we were both about to go down with the ship."

     Loki tilted his head to the side with a confused expression on his face, before smiling and laughing as well. "I must admit, that was quite the feat we accomplished. The power of the staff is ancient, and wielded as it was by Thanos, it was a miracle we were able to break its control at all."

     "Thanos? So that's the actual puppet master behind all this?"

     "Aye. He is a titan, the mad titan. He wanted the tesseract, and was willing to stop at nothing to get it. I was dragged into his scheme when he found me floating in the void after my fall." Loki became very grave, and the look of pain and sorrow that crossed over his face made Harry think it would be best not to press too far.

     "We can talk about him later, but for now, I think we should start to fix your mind. That staff did a lot of damage when it smashed through your barriers. Those should be what get's fixed first, since it would be best to have at least a defense up while everything else is being dealt with."

     "You would help a stranger, one who just tried to take over your world, with something as complex and exhausting as this task ahead of us?"

     Harry smiled, "Yeah, of course I would, especially when you're not to blame considering you were being controlled the whole time."

     Loki shook his head, "You do not understand. If I had not been so foolish when I had discovered the truth of my origins, if I had not committed treason and attacked Thor and fallen off the Bifrost, I would not have ended up in a position where Thanos could use me," Loki looked down at his hand, and as he turned it around, blue started seeping from the fingertips to cover the rest of his hand. "I really am the monster that parents tell their children about."

     "Snap out of it. You're not a monster. None of your actions on earth were done willingly, so there's no blame for you there. And the stuff you did on Asgard, well judging by everything Thor mentioned, to me it sounds like you had some type of psychotic break and just snapped. Really, what you need is a psychiatrist, not a prison cell. And one last thing. Just because you are Jotun, does not mean you are a monster. Every species has good and bad people. Being of a certain race does not automatically make you good or bad. You decide your own path in life. It's up to you wither you become a monster or a hero. Loki, your fate isn't set in stone. There's still time to decide which path you're going to take, and who you'll become. So, what do you say we get to work on fixing your mind. There's a bit too much work to do all at once, but I think after I help you with most of the big stuff, you'll be able to take care of the rest on your own later on." Harry smiled at him and help out his hand.

     Loki was quiet for some time. Harry was beginning to worry that he would refuse his help when Loki smiled and took his hand. "I would greatly appreciate your help, Harry Potter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it! I know this chapter is really just fixing Loki, but I thought it was best to just end it where I did. Next chapter, seeing everyone's reactions, and Thor's most likely going to accidently hug his brother to death. Till next time!


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it took so long to get this up. I got busy with some other stuff and my sister stuck me with watching her cat while she's on vacation. I normally like cats, but hers is creepy as hell and I think it's secretly a demon or something. This is kinda just a filler chapter, not a lot happens, but it's still interesting to read. Hope you enjoy it.

     Harry was unfortunately right about the healing taking forever. They had started with the shields, like Harry had originally proposed, and had ended up spending what felt like days going along every inch of the walls. They had been very, very thorough, making sure every block was in place, every crack sealed up, and every booby trap and nasty trick that was on the wall was set up perfectly. By the time they had gone full circle and completely finished rebuilding Loki's occlumency shields, they were both dead on their feet and at the verge of magical exhaustion.

     Harry collapsed on the ground though Loki remained standing, but just barely. "I believe that will be enough for now. Neither of us is capable of working further, and with my protections now back in place, I will not need to worry about any attempted psychic attacks while I rebuild the rest of my mind."

     Harry nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I don't think you're going to have to worry about people trying to mess with your head again. I don't think even Snape, Dumbledore, and Voldemort combined could break into your mind now after the major boost we gave to your security."

     Loki finally decided he couldn't stand anymore and sat next to Harry on the ground, but somehow did it a thousand times more gracefully than Harry. "Ah, the two mentors and the great enemy, all three very talented at looking into others minds I believe."

     Harry shot up from where he was sprawled haphazardly. "Hold up, how the bloody hell do you know about them? And now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I remember me or anyone else telling you my first name was Harry. How the bloody hell do you know this stuff?"

     The God smirked and laughed at Harry, annoying the wizard further. When the smaller man aimed his wand threateningly, Loki held his hands up in appeasement. "Well, put simply, Hel is quite a fan of yours and the last couple of times I visited her in Helheim, she went on for quite a while about all your different adventures and escapades, talking about how you even managed to impress death herself by accepting your end willingly."

     "Let me get this straight, your daughter is fan of mine and death, who's apparently female, is also kind of a fan? ....Seriously?"

     Loki let out what could only be a sigh of long time annoyance. "Idiot mortals, completely messing up my entire history. For the record, I don't have any children, I was never pregnant with an eight-legged horse, I never slept with a frost giant sorceress, and I do not have a giant snake and wolf as sons. Sleipnir, Jormungandr, and Fenrir were all creatures I found at different times during my journeys through the nine realms that I decided to foster. Odin eventually decided to keep Sleipnir as his war horse, but both Jormungandr and Fenrir got too big to safely live in Asgard. Last I checked, which was only a few decades ago, Jormungandr was happily nesting among the roots of Yggdrasil and Fenrir was enjoying his time chasing the waifs that live in Helheim. As for Hel, she is just a friend of mine. Truly, she is a sister to me in all but blood. She was a fellow outcast in Asgardian society due to her appearance and her abilities involving death and the darker magics. We got along quite well, and even after she conquered Helheim and made herself queen, I always made sure to visit as often as I could. Fenrir ended up living with her since he is unfortunately quite hyper since he is still relatively a puppy, and Helheim is devoid of residents who could truly be injured by his overly excited playing."

     "Huh. All right then. Still a bit shocked though that Hel is apparently a fan. Maybe she could come for a visit sometime. "

     "I believe she would enjoy meeting you and exploring Midgard. Perhaps she could even bring Fenrir along. He is actually quite well behaved for a giant wolf and I know he would have fun running and hunting in the forests."

     Harry stood up from the ground and began dusting himself off. "We can talk about it more later. For now, it really is time for us to join the real world again. Your brother must be annoying everyone like crazy by now with his worrying. And Hulk will probably be getting bored if he's still around."

     Loki lost his smile and become very somber. He stood up as well, but did not appear nearly as excited as Harry. He wasn't sure at first what was going on with the God, but after a quick moment's thought, it became obvious to the wizard why his fellow mage was upset. "Loki, everything will be fine. Thor still loves you, the big guy was practically a hyperactive puppy once I told him you weren't to blame for the invasion. I'm sure it will all work out. There's no need to worry."

     "I might not be to blame for my actions on Midgard, but I still committed treason and almost killed an entire race before my fall. I will be lucky if all I am sentenced to is execution."

     "I can't say that I know much about the Asgardian justice system, but here on Earth, we have different punishments set up for when people commit crimes when they're not in their right mental state. When you did all that stuff back on Asgard, you were definitely not in your right mind and you can't be punished as if you were. I wasn't joking earlier. I really think that instead of a prison cell, what you need is a psychiatrist, or at least a proper mind healer. Look, if worse comes to worse, Thor still cares about you, and there's no way he'd let anything happen to you. And if that doesn't work, then I'll just go to Asgard myself and kick some sense into people."

   That got a chuckle out of Loki, and made his mood improve immensely. "That is a sight I would love to see. But you are right, it is time for us to wake up and rejoin the others as you said. No matter what is to come, and what punishments I must face, I still must accept them. Thank you, for all your help. You are truly a great mage, Harry Potter, and I owe you greatly for what you have done."

       Harry ignored the seriousness of the situation and smiled. "Don't worry about it. Before you start calling down blood oaths or life debts, how about instead, we call it even by us just being friends and you sharing some information on Asgardian magic. Sound good to you?"

     Loki appeared surprised at first, since there are not many who would turn away a favor from a God and mage so easily, but eventually he returned Harry's smile. "That deal sounds agreeable to me as well."

     "Good. If that's all settled, then it's time for us to head out."

       Harry waited until he was sure Loki was ready before ending the spell and breaking their mental connection.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     The first thing Harry noticed once he was back was that he was stiff as hell and both of his legs had fallen asleep. Looking out the window, he was surprised to see that the sun had already set and that night had fallen.

     "How long did that take?" He asked absentmindedly.

     Tony tried saying something, but his mouth was full of food, so all that came out was an unintelligible garbling sound. Natasha smacked him in the back of the head. "You've been working for over five hours."

     Harry massaged the back of his neck, trying to get out the knot that had formed while he'd been stuck in his sitting position. "Well, that explains why all my muscles feel like they've locked up." An arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him back so he was sitting on someone's lap, and then their hands took over at massaging his neck and shoulders. Harry relaxed and slouched down enough so he could tilt his head back and smile up at Bruce. "Thanks love. Did the Hulk go to sleep or something?"

    He smiled back, "No, he got bored with just watching you sit there and let me take over, as long as I promised to let him out again if things get crazy again."

     Harry quirked his lips into a smirk, "Glad to see you two finally getting along."

     Bruce would have probably answered but Thor had finally lost his patience and broke into their conversation. "Did it work? Is Loki himself again? Why has he not woken up yet?"

     Sighing, Harry stretched out his legs to try to relieve some on the pain, especially in the injured one, before answering. "He's just taking longer to come back into full consciousness. He had an alien magical power tearing through his head, ripping things up for Merlin knows how long. I cleared out all of the staff's infection, but the thing left a lot of damage behind. We cleaned up and fixed the most important stuff, but there's still a lot to do. Loki's just tired Thor, he'll wake up whenever he feels like waking up. But don't worry, he's back to being just Loki."

     Thor didn't look entirely convinced, and most likely wouldn't be until his brother had woken up and he was able to see for himself that Loki was all right. Harry was a little worried that Loki was still within his mind, since he knew that the mage was in no condition to be trying to fix anything further. With Loki being magically drained just as bad as Harry was, the only reason he would still be in his mind is if he was trying to avoid waking up and facing Thor. Harry hoped he didn't try the evasion route for too long, because Loki would eventually have to stop running from his problems and deal with them if he was ever going to fully heal.

     Clint offered Harry some of the food that they had gotten from some shawarma place Tony had been wanting to go to, but Harry turned him down since he was more exhausted than hungry. He looked around for his bag, but didn't see it. He would have tried summoning it, but he was completely drained. He was about to ask if someone had moved it, when he noticed it over by Tony's feet.

     "Tony, why do you have my bag?"

     The inventor just kept chewing, stalling for time, but eventually he had to swallow and start talking. "I was curious what exactly a wizard keeps in his magic bag. I just wanted a peek. But of course the damn thing wouldn't open."

   Harry just shook his head. "I have protections placed on it so people can't steal it and the only ones I have keyed in to open it are me and Bruce. Now, if you don't mind, could you hand it over? I have some healing potions that I and the rest of you should probably take."

     Tony perked up again at the chance to look at some magic stuff, so he quickly obeyed. Harry decided to humor the guy and tossed him a pepper-up potion, telling him to have fun trying to figure it out. For himself, he pulled out a pain potion, a couple basic healing potions, and a dose of skele-gro to take care of his leg. He downed them all before taking stock of the others.

       "I'm completely drained magically, so I can't use any diagnostic or healing spells, but if you've got any injuries I can still help by giving you some potions. I'm guessing that everyone could do with at least a pain killer and some basic healing potions."

     Clint spoke up first. "If it means avoiding the evil doctors in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical unit, then I'm all in for the crazy magic cures."

     Natasha rolled her eyes. "You just think they're evil because they make you sit still for more than ten minutes."

       Harry just laughed quietly as he passed out what he thought was most needed to everyone except Thor and Bruce. Ignoring Clint's and Tony's very loud discussion about how gross they were, Harry instead tilted his head back so he could talk to Bruce. "You need anything?"

     The older man smiled and laid his head on Harry's shoulder. "No, for once I'm completely fine after a change. No pain, no headache. And it's all thanks to you really." He emphasized his last statement by kissing Harry's neck and making his younger partner smile and curl up more closely against his chest.

     "Ah, look at the lovebirds. Aren't they just adorable?"

     Harry just flipped Tony off.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, so sorry it took so long to update. I got really busy, with school staring up soon I've been busy finishing up everything that I had to do in advance. In return for being late, I posted the part of the chapter I had finished, and added some Bruce and Harry cuteness at the beginning. Hope you enjoy!

     Bruce woke up the next morning in a bit of a daze in a bed he knew wasn't his. Looking around and catching a glimpse of a semi-demolished skyline through the floor to ceiling windows, memories of the past couple of days came back to him.

     "I was kind of hoping all that insanity had just been a really messed up dream," he muttered to himself.

     He was surprised when he got a response back. "Yeah, I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything too." He looked down at the wizard sprawled on top of him to see him blinking his eyes tiredly and trying to banish the last remnants of sleep. Bruce tightened his hold on Harry slightly, before unwrapping one of his arms so he could comb his hand through his partner's hair. Harry sighed comfortably and attempted to rebury his head against Bruce's chest, making the other smile at his adorable antics.

     "Sorry if I woke you up."

     Harry just sighed again before shifting around, moving his arms to wrap them around behind Bruce's neck and pulling himself up more so he could look the other in the face. "You didn't really wake me up, love. So there's nothing to apologize for," Harry punctuated this statement by leaning down and kissing Bruce. It remained pretty chaste and only lasted a few seconds, both of them still exhausted from the day before. Harry pulled away and laid his head on Bruce's shoulder. "Besides, we'd have to get up eventually. I'm pretty sure Natasha said something yesterday about Fury showing up to debrief us, and you and Tony have to go all science nerd and come up with something that can bring Thor and Loki back to Asgard." The last was said around a loud yawn.

     Bruce turned his head so he could rest his forehead on top of Harry's head, remaining still for awhile and just enjoying the opportunity to relax with his partner. The time to face the rest of the world came too soon, and Bruce had to try and untangle Harry from himself, which was always better in theory than in actuality. He really hadn't been kidding when he had warned that he was an octopus in bed. Some days Bruce was stuck getting up with Harry still clinging to him like a monkey, and today was apparently one of those days. He found the situation pretty cute actually and since Harry was pretty small and light, he rarely ever forced Harry to let go. He shuffled around on the bed so he was sitting on the edge, made sure he had one arm around Harry's waist and the other under his thighs where they were wrapped around him, then carefully made his way to the connected bathroom.

     There weren't enough thanks he could give for the fact that some of the guest rooms in the tower had been left undamaged during the attack for the bathroom was completely amazing. It was just as big as the actual bedroom and had one very high tech looking shower and an enormous bath that could probably qualify as a small pool. Bruce was very glad the bath was so big since it didn't look like Harry was in the mood to release him any time soon. Having been in the same situation before, he was able to turn on the hot water and lower both of them into the bath safely with ease. He washed Harry first, since the wizard was still refusing to let go, and made sure to be thorough. They both had been exhausted yesterday and had just collapsed into bed still covered in dirt, grime, and who knows what else leftover from the battle. Harry was still pretty out of it since he had magical exhaustion to deal with on top of physical exhaustion. By time he was done washing the smaller male, Harry had woken up enough to help Bruce clean himself up.

   Bruce was ready to leave the bath and tried getting out, but was stopped by Harry. The younger man pulled him back down into a kiss, splashing water everywhere in the process. Harry wrapped his arms around Bruce's neck while he grabbed Harry's hips to pull him closer. Bruce lost himself for a few moments, just enjoying being with Harry like this, but eventually he pulled away and moved Harry away from him.

     "Harry, you were the one who mentioned earlier that we have work to do. We can't just laze around any longer."

     The wizard pouted at that and Bruce had to resist smiling at how adorable he looked. "I know we have to get going, but I guess I'm just a tad bit annoyed at the fact that I don't have you to myself anymore." Harry sighed and rested against Bruce.

     He smiled down at his partner and love, understanding instantly what was wrong. "Yeah, I understand what you mean. It's been just the two of us for so long, that it seems weird to have others around like this." Bruce leant down and kissed the top of Harry's head, making the younger smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get used to it soon enough. But how about I make a promise. Tonight we'll be just us and we can do whatever you want."

       Harry sat up and smirked, "Anything I want?"

     "Absolutely anything. Whatever you want."

     Harry's smirk turned into a look of confusion. "Wait, seriously? Anything?"

     Now it was Bruce's turn to smirk. "Anything. I know I might have been a bit ... hesitant about some things in the past, but after getting some good advice from Tony of all people and seeing how gentle and surprisingly caring the Hulk could be yesterday, I guess I'm just ready to stop being scared of things that might happen."

     Harry just stared at him for a few moments, before beaming and hugging Bruce, then bursting out laughing. "I guess I owe Tony now. I'll just have to try and resist hexing him next time he makes a joke about our relationship." Harry gave Bruce a quick kiss before jumping out of the bath and grabbing a towel. "Come on. Everyone else is probably waiting on us. We've got important stuff to do. You've got to break the rules of science and I need to go make sure Loki stops moping around and pretending he's in a coma."

     Bruce sat stunned for a while, watching Harry run around with renewed energy. After a few moments, he just shook his head and smiled at his partner, before getting out of the bath to finish getting ready.

 

 

/////-----/////-----/////

 

 

     Following Jarvis's instructions, they found the others, excluding Thor and Loki, in what looked like a half-finished kitchen eating donuts. Steve and Natasha were sitting at the table next to a half asleep Tony, Clint was perched on top of the counter behind Natasha, and Fury was leaning against a wall, looking like a leather clad gargoyle. They took their seats across from the others and grabbed their own breakfast.

     "I'm guessing Fury brought these?" Harry asked and Steve nodded in confirmation. "I'm also guessing Loki's still sleeping and Thor's with him?" This time it was Natasha who answered.

     "Thor brought Loki to one of the guest rooms and hasn't left his side since."

     Fury moved away from the wall and took a seat at the head of the table. "Dr. Potter, Dr. Banner, I've already gotten Roger, Romanoff and Barton's reports and the drama story Stark came up with. I'd like to get both of your sides of yesterday's battle. And Potter, if you could focus on the part where apparently the mastermind behind all of it was actually being controlled, that would be good. The council is already calling for Loki's head."

     Harry and Bruce shared a look and came to the silent consensus for the scientist to go first since his retelling was bound to be shorter. "Well, the Hulk was in control and in a battle rage for most of the fight, so I don't really have clear memories of everything. After the fall from the Helicarrier, I woke up in the middle of a rubble pile in a warehouse. I borrowed a motorcycle from a security guard there and made my way to the city. Most of my memories from the actual battle are just blurs of the Hulk smashing everything. I got control back after the Hulk got bored with watching Harry fix Loki. Sorry I don't have much to add"

     Fury nodded his head then turned to Harry. The wizard swallowed the last bite of his donut before starting. He recapped everything from when they arrived and he faced off against Loki to after he finished healing the god. Fury spent almost half an hour interrogating him about the magic controlling Loki so he had evidence to give the council that Loki was actually innocent. Harry was about to get up to find said god when he remembered the wizard he ran into.

     "Oh, almost forgot. I need to call in that favor I got for saving Coulson a bit earlier than expected. A wizard saw me using magic yesterday to fight the aliens, and I'm pretty sure Aurors will be showing up eventually to arrest me for the open use of magic around and on muggles. If there's anyway you could possibly keep me from getting arrested and most likely deported back to Britain where I'll end up being put in Azkaban and have my wand snapped, that would be brilliant."

     The director's eye brow twitched minutely, and Harry almost felt bad for the headache he had probably just given him. "I'll see what I can do."

     "Hold up!" Tony yelled, finally awake enough to participate in the conversation. "Why would you be arrested for using magic? What the hell is Azkaban and what do you mean snap your wand? Please tell me you mean your wooden stick wand and not your other wand."

     Harry glared mildly at him, very unimpressed with his humor. "Wizard's are extremely paranoid about being discovered by the non-magical populace and another round of witch trials starting, so it's a serious crime in the wizarding world to use any magic in front of muggles not already aware of magic. And I used a lot of magic yesterday, so even considering everything I did in the past to save the wizarding world's populace from their own incompetent stupidity and inability to use common sense and fight for themselves, I'll still most likely end up in jail for at least a decade, if not the rest of my life. Frankly speaking, the wizard government of Britain is completely incompetent, corrupt, idiotic, and one hundred percent useless. And the citizens just listen to whatever they're told. It's one of the main reasons I decided to leave the wizarding world. And truthfully, I'm glad I did. I miss being able to easily see my family, what remains of it, but I still get to write to them and if I hadn't left I never would have met Bruce. And Azkaban is Britain's jail for magical beings and wizards, and of course I meant the wooden wand." Harry took a breath to calm himself after letting his emotions get the better of him, and grabbed Bruce's hand underneath the table to help calm himself down.

     Tony sat silently for all of ten seconds before letting out a surprised whistle. "Wow. No offense, but the magical world sounds fucked up."

     Harry sighed and rubbed his temples. "It's mostly just Britain that's the problem. They're so backwards and out of touch with the rest of the world that the most advanced form of technology they have is broadcast radio."

     "Hey Capsicle, maybe you should move to Britain --"

     "Enough Stark." Fury broke Tony off before he could really get going. "You and Dr. Banner need to get working on the device that will take Loki and Thor home and get the Tesseract off the planet. If the thing is going to attract hordes of invading aliens, I'd like to get it as far away from Earth as possible."

     Tony rolled his eyes and stood up. "Fine. Come on Bruce, let's go and win a Nobel Prize by making an intergalactic teleporter. You could even bring along your hot doctor if you want."

     "Sorry Tony, I'd love to join you and Bruce but I think my time can be better spent checking up on Loki. I'll just have Jarvis guide me to him." Harry gave Bruce a quick kiss goodbye and watched as he walked off with an hyper Tony. "Oh, Fury, I've been keeping track of Coulson through the monitoring spells I placed on him, and he's healing better than I expected and will wake up early tomorrow. I'm sure your doctors will be fine taking care of him, but if you need me, you know where to find me."

     Fury inclined his head in acknowledgment and Harry gave his goodbyes to everyone before leaving the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this. Please leave a comment so I can tell what needs work. And if anyone wants to beta this work that would be great.


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